


Write Your Love on my Skin

by ThePackWantstheD



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Boy (Comics), Young Avengers
Genre: (of around 4-5 years), Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Rewrite, Dark, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kate and Noh Varr have an epic friendship, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Spoilers, Temporary Amnesia, Writing on Skin, lines from canon used, was that a spideytorch mention you just saw? hell ye it was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-31 19:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6484081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePackWantstheD/pseuds/ThePackWantstheD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy's soulmate doesn't write back until he's eleven. </p><p>He was in his history class when he noticed it. His eyes had drifted away from the board where the teacher had a large timeline of ancient civilizations and caught sight of his wrist. </p><p>'Hello.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Tommy Met Noh Varr

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I don't have much to say here other then that I'm super excited to be writing this and hope everyone enjoys?  
> There's a timeline in the endnotes for anyone who wants to look at it

Tommy was young when he first started writing on himself.

Children were usually steered away from writing on themselves. Soulmates were precious, but they were also unpredictable. Age differences were common and someone didn't have to be a good person to be the right person, it was better to wait until kids got a bit older before letting them make their connections.

But Tommy's brain ran faster then he could and things tended to slip away from him. He learned quickly that an exasperated reprimand from his teacher and a crayon only policy when he was coloring was a better option then the sharp hits when he forgot to do something for one of his parents.

The first words he marked his skin with were reminders.

 _'Do the dishes,'_ in purple marker.

 _'Clean the bedroom before dad gets home,'_ in sharp black pen.

 _'Turn mom on her side,'_ in glowing yellow highlighter.

* * *

Noh Varr had already started his training on the Marvel when the marks started appearing. Sometimes they would last for days, sometimes they would disappear in hours. They were the slanted letters of a foreign tongue, one that the Kree apparently hadn't seen as important for him to learn in his diplomatic studies, in the same hand but a variety of colors.

He supposed he should have been a little more concerned about it. But he didn't see it as being a big deal. The Marvel was a big ship with a large crew. With them all connected, he was sure someone would have noticed if it was something to be worried about.

It was a few years after they had started appearing that Noh Varr realized what the words were.

The Marvel's crew had been expanded to include an experienced multiverse traveler, someone who could help them with their most recent mission, and when he was connected in with everyone else he saw what had been going on with Noh Varr.

He tracked Noh Varr down later to explain.

There were universes, the traveler told him, where people had ways to find the person who would be the best mate for them. In one of these universes, skin was used like paper or a whiteboard. Arms were the most common place since they were easily visible and not always hidden by clothing, but all of the skin could be used.

Noh Varr spent several days talking to the man. He learned what he could about this universe.

He learned how sometimes people used the reflections to find their partner to early and how it could cause the match to go sour. They weren't ready to be together yet and their actions would stop them from ever being able to. He learned how some people wrote on their arms their whole life only to never get a response. He learned of people who woke up one morning with apologies on their wrists and their soulmate already gone from the world.

He learned that good matches far out numbered the bad. He learned how the people fit together like puzzle pieces, teaching and learning and sharing between themselves. He learned how they protected each other and cared for each other. He learned how they pushed each other to be better because they understood each other so completely.

When the traveler left, Noh Varr thought about all he had learned and he thought about the person who was connected to him by some power he couldn't understand. He thought about all of it and suddenly he yearned for it.

There were people in that universe who didn't have a match, yet Noh Varr did and that meant something.

* * *

Tommy's soulmate doesn't write back until he's eleven.

He was in his history class when he noticed it. His eyes had drifted away from the board where the teacher had a large timeline of ancient civilizations and caught sight on his wrist.

Tommy had assumed his soulmate was younger then him. He thought the reason someone hadn't written back was because they were too young to be writing to their soulmate already. He himself was on the lower edge of when it was acceptable.

The black letters, written in an elegant curve, made Tommy think he was probably wrong about that. He didn't know anyone his age, much less younger, who wrote like that.

_'Hello.'_

Tommy stared at it for a minute before glancing around. He only carried pencils, he hadn't been allowed any ink in elementary school on account of his frequent writing and the habit had never really broken, but the girl in the desk next to him had a collection of gel pens sitting on her desk.

He waited until she turned to one of her friends before reaching over, quick as lightning, to snatch the green one from her.

He pulled the cap off and tossed it down onto his desk. It landed on his textbook, rolling between the open pages. He glanced up to make sure his teacher was focused on what she was teaching before touching the pen to his forearm.

_'Five years and all you have to say is hello?'_

He wondered, briefly, how easily the pen would scrub off.

While eleven was considered an acceptable age to start communicating with your soulmate, his mathematics teacher was a bit of a bitter prick. He wouldn't hesitate to give Tommy detention for the tiniest thing if he saw his arm.

He didn't dwell on it very long. The thought slipping through his mind like quicksand as he watched more writing appear on his arm.

_'I am sorry.'_

Tommy frowned down at the words. He didn't like that word. His mother liked to say it even though she rarely meant it.

He wrote his response above his previous words; _'Don't apologize. Explain.'_

Several moments passed.

He watched as someone scrubbed the ink from his left arm, leaving the skin dusted a rosy pink.

There was a moment where Tommy's stomach sank because he thought they were erasing all traces of themselves with no intention of answering. There was a moment where Tommy's mind echoed with all the words his parents hurled at him. There was a moment when Tommy almost mourned another nonsense apology.

Then black ink blossomed on his arm once again.

_'I am neither of your planet or your universe. My home world doesn't have soulmates. I only recently learned the significance of what was happening. It took me a while to learn your language after I did.'_

The letters had been written smaller in order to fit, but they still took up a good portion of Tommy's arm. It covered the inside of his forearm, crawling from his wrist to his elbow.

Tommy tapped the stolen pen against his textbook. He turned the words over in his head.

Believing in aliens wasn't too hard, space was infinite and Tommy could easily believe other species lived out there, but he wondered about the prospect of other universes.

"Hey!" The sharp cry broke against Tommy's thoughts. He turned his head to find the girl sitting next to him was glaring at him. "That's mine, Tommy."

"Huh?" She huffed angrily and pointed to his hand. He follows the line of her finger to the pen in his hand. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I needed it for something."

"Thomas! Annie!" The teacher called from the start. "Would you be so kind as to stop talking? Class ends in ten minutes. I'm sure you can resume your discussion then."

"Sorry, Mrs. Lance!" the girl said.

Tommy took the opportunity to use the pen a final time. The brief interruption had been all he needed to make up his mind.

 _'That's cool. I'm in class now but we can talk later.'_ As an after thought, he added below them, _'I'm Tommy.'_

He capped the pen. When he went to put it back on his neighbors desk, he found her watching him with an angry expression.

He flashed her a smile as he did, raising his arm and whispering, "Sorry, I didn't ask! It was an emergency."

He wasn't sure if it was his charm or the admission that it had been her soulmate, but her anger faded away.

"Oh," she said. He held it out for her. She reached her hand out like she was going to grab it, but stopped just before it. "Actually, why don't you keep it?"

He blinked several times before asking, "You sure?"

"You don't have any pens right? You always seem to be using pencil." He nodded his head to let her know she was right. "Then yeah, you can keep it."

He pulled his hand back, the motion slower then anything else he'd do but cautious, "Thanks."

"No problem." She turned her own arm so he could see the inside of her forearms. It was covered in golden scribbles, artfully drawn flowers and animals. A language Tommy didn't understand sat in the center of it. "He lives in Russia. Between school and the time difference, we don't talk a very often. He doesn't speak much English either, though he's definitely learning faster then I'm learning Russian. We leave murals for each other though. So I can understand stealing a pen to talk to them when their around."

"Oh." His eyes lingered on her arm for a while. When he lifted it, he found her looking at him in a way which made it clear she expected him to share. He didn't think it was a good idea to share the apparent existence of aliens, so he said, "Yeah, mine doesn't live around here either."

"Tommy, Annie. I already told you two once," their teacher warned. "If I catch you again, you'll have a detention."

The two of them echoed their acknowledgements, Annie's with an apology, before falling silent.

Tommy's eyes went back to him arm.

It had been scrubbed clean of the explanation.

Now it read, _'I am called Noh Varr.'_

* * *

Time passed in a flurry of drawings and words.

They were endlessly curious about each others worlds. Sometimes they would spend hours exchanging information about their cultures. Noh Varr taught Tommy about all the things that existed beyond earth and tried to teach him Kree (Tommy could write it pretty well but had absolutely no idea how to say anything). In return, Tommy taught him about things like movies and birthdays (Noh Varr started keeping track of time in a way that matched Earth's system so he could keep track of Tommy).

Sometimes they passed time talking about their days.  
Tommy got messages about the various crew members of the Marvel and, when he learned that Noh Varr's mind was linked to theirs and they could read everything he sent, started sending messages to some of them via Noh Varr. He'd struck up the strangest friendship with Merree and for a few weeks Noh Varr felt like Tommy was speaking more to her then him.

Noh Varr got updates on all the drama happening at Tommy's school. The most frequent mention was Annie, the only person Tommy considered himself close to even though he was friends with so many others, and Noh Varr came to anticipate the stories about Tommy's adventures with her. Annie was the innocent girl to Tommy's rebel child. According to Tommy, it was Annie who kept him from spending his life in detention or worse. Tommy's silver tongue got him into as many bad situations as it got him out of, but Annie's seemed to exist for wiggling them out of trouble.

Sometimes, their exchanges were much shorter. Noh Varr would scribble blue prints on his arm when nothing else was available and Tommy would make remarks about being covered in things he didn't understand. Tommy would leave reminders on his arms and, when they inevitably got scrubbed off so they could talk or came off in the gym showers, Noh Varr would make sure to bring the contents up.

* * *

As if feeling his soulmates distress, Noh Varr looked down at his arm just in time to see Tommy's handwriting bloom across it.

_'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'_

It wasn't like Tommy to apologize. He hated apologizes. Noh Varr had read several rants on exactly why Tommy disliked the over the years they'd spent together.

A deep frown etched into his features. Something was wrong with Tommy. Very wrong.

He reached up, pulling out the pen he stored behind his ear. He scrawled quickly across his arm.

_'Tommy, what's going on?'_

Tommy's response came almost immediately. _'I fucked up. I fucked up so badly.'_

_'What happened?'_

Tommy's words were crawling around Noh Varr's forearm, inching towards his shoulder. He struggled a bit to crane his head enough to see them. _'I don't know! These boys were saying these things to Annie and I got so angry! I threw my hands out and the wall behind them exploded! Everyone was screaming and I was scared so I ran away, but I ran so much faster then I should've.'_

Noh Varr tried to sort through the information Tommy had given him, but he was finding it hard to think about anything other than the danger that Tommy was in. It seemed obvious to him that Tommy was a mutant and he'd heard stories from him before about how Earth treated them.

Writing below his other responses, he asked, _'Where are you? Are you safe?'_

_'I think I'm in Queens.'_

Noh Varr blinked a bit. He remembered another conversation from earlier _. 'I thought that was a ways away?'_

 _'It is. I told you I ran faster then I should've.'_ Noh Varr took a moment to process that information. Before he could ask anything else, Tommy was writing again. _'I'm sorry.'_

Noh Varr's eyes furrowed. This was so unlike Tommy that he found it extremely unsettling. _'Why are you apologizing?'_

A few moments passed before a tiny arrow was drawn on his wrist, pointing downwards.

They rarely communicated using something other then their arms, but they were really lacking space right now. He could see why Tommy was relocating the conversation.

Noh Varr stripped carefully. He found Tommy's words drawn into his thigh.

Between the position and the way they stretched the width, Noh Varr thought Tommy was probably sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest.

The words started right below the knee, cascading down towards the beginning of Noh Varr's boxers.

 _'I blew up a school. There's no way I'm not going to jail. Prisoners aren't allowed to write, not even between trial, and even if they could I wouldn't. It would be bad if they found out about you._ ' Here the words stopped. But when Noh Varr turned his head, he saw Tommy had started writing on the other thigh. ' _So, I have to leave._ ' There was a pause, Tommy's pen leaving a large splotch of ink on their skin as he hesitated, before he added, _'I love you. Don't write to me anymore.'_

Noh Varr watched dumbstruck as Tommy began furiously scrubbing at the words, starting with the explanation on their arms. It smeared, obviously Tommy was rubbing at it with spit in his haste, and left Noh Varr's skin with a green tint.

"Noh Varr!" He looked up in time to see Merree careen into the room. There was a frantic expression on her face. She took in sharp breaths as she took in the scene in front of her - Noh Varr sitting on the floor in nothing but his boxers. "I came as soon as I saw what was happening."

"I don't-" He stopped, let out a frustrated puff. "There's nothing I can do."

As much as he wanted it to be a lie, it was true. Tommy had made his wishes clear and Noh Varr wouldn't go against them. Not if there was even the slightest chance that someone finding out about Noh Varr could lead to Tommy getting hurt.

"We'll figure something out," Merree said. She took a few steps towards him, crouching down and putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find a way."

Noh Varr shrugged her hand off. He couldn't let himself believe that, not when it seemed so improbable. He pushed himself to his feet. "Can you leave? I need to get dressed."

Merree watched him for a minute before giving a small nod. When she was at the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder, "Don't forget that he may have been yours, but there were plenty of other people on this ship who loved Tommy."

Noh Varr just turned his back to her and let the door slide shut behind her.

* * *

A year passed for Noh Varr.

He still checked his arm out of habit, looking for words that weren't there, but he refused to listen to any of Merree's insistences that they could do something.

Even if they could, Noh Varr wasn't entirely sure they should. He'd heard the stories about what could happen with soulmate pairs who met too early in their lives, who forced their bonds into fruition instead of waiting for the right time.

It turned out to be a good idea to ignore it, because the Marvel crashed just after the one year mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tommy starts writing @ 6ish? .  
> Noh Varr writes back when Tommy is 11 making him 12ish. Captain Marvel says in the "Presents Hulkling" that Kree join the military around 9, so Noh Varr would be adjusted to the Marvel by then I think?  
> Tommy goes to Juvie at 14? 15?  
> the Marvel crashes shortly after
> 
> Also some (possible?) changes to canon (canon isnt very clear on Tommy's history which is a crying shame): it's kinda implied he's been in and outta juvie in canon and in this he has not? Annie's influence kept him from that. Also canon implies (From tommy's reaction) that the school blowing up maybe wasn't an accident but i've made it one in here. I actually can't see Tommy doing that sort of thing?
> 
> SO now i get to reread Young Avengers and obsessively year Noh-Varr and Marvel Boy wikis to figure out my timeline for their time apart!


	2. How to Become a Young Avenger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you may notice that I changed the chapter number from four to a question mark. That is because I no longer know wtf is going on.
> 
> Originally, I planned for this whole chapter to deal with the canon events of the young avenger series. All of them.
> 
> Instead Tommy decided to use it for the whole of the first series. The next one will be about Young Avengers/Runaways: civil war and then the 2013 YA run (bc crusade is so irrelevant TBH. It's basically the Billy story which sucks since Tommy should've been pretty important there too).

Things weren't horrible at first.

The doctors at the prison, some secure facility made especially for holding mutant juveniles like Tommy, were just as interested in learning about Tommy's powers as Tommy was.

They made him take tests and they asked him a lot of questions, but it wasn't anything horrible. Not right away.

He finally got answers to some of the things he'd been wondering about. He learned his body was prepared for his mutation, even when it was dormant. That was why he couldn't put on the muscle some of the other boys his age could, because he was meant to be fast not strong. He learned that his brain worked as fast as his body could. That was why he could learn so quickly, but forgot things just as easily.

They even let him train. He figured out how to make sure he didn't set off explosions just because he was angry and how to set them off when he needed them. He figured out how to keep himself at a normal speed and how to cross a room in less time then it took to blink. He figured out how to make himself move through a wall.

To say that he liked it, though, would have been a lie.

He had powers that would let him traverse the earth in seconds, but his world was smaller then ever. He could run to Paris and back before anyone knew what he was doing, but he couldn't leave his cell without a guard. He knew of things outside their solar system, but he couldn't even leave this tiny building.

He missed Annie. He missed the breeze in his hair and her laughter in his ears as they walking to school with her. He missed seeing the murals her soulmate had left her while she was asleep and helping her decide what to draw back. He missed sitting in the back of the classroom with her, heads bent together as they whispered, and sneaking into dark movie theaters. He missed the easy comfort of her friendship.

The hardest thing to deal was Noh Varr's absence of his life. He missed Annie, but it wasn't like he was with her all the time. Noh Varr had been constant companion, with Tommy no matter where he was. He was used to being able to reach for a pen to speak to him whenever he wanted.

It hurt how badly he wanted to. 

He wanted to tell Noh Varr all that he had discovered about himself, the same way Noh Varr told him all he discovered about the Marvel Crew members. He wanted to talk about all the places he could visit with his powers and draw maps to show Noh Varr what he meant. He wanted to watch as Noh Varr scribbled stars on their skin and shared his own travel stories.

So, he didn't like the prison. Not at all, but it wasn't horrible at first.

Once he got himself under control though, it became all about making him better. It was about making him faster, making his blasts more destructive, phasing himself through as many surfaces as possible.

They ran him through mazes for food and pushed him through weeks without sleep in a matter of minutes. He made things explode until his vision was nothing but vibrating molecules and his ears echoed with the sounds of explosions. He passed through steel and titanium until he could tell the difference as easily as he could tell fur from plastic and spent weeks shivering and puking after passing through palladium the first time. They pumped drug after drug into his system to test how they would slip through his system.

Tommy lasted a year before he broke.

No one had died in the explosion at his school but a few kids had been hurt, so maybe he did deserve prison. But he hadn't been in control of himself yet and he'd been trying to help his friend.

That didn't warrant this.

 _Nothing_ warranted this.

He tried escaping first, slipping through walls and running through corridors, but the outer walls of the prison had power dampeners.

So, he locked everything away instead and lashed out.

He packed Annie's laughter and Noh Varr's scratchy handwriting into boxes and shoved them into the back of his mind to make room for all his anger. He moved his hands fast enough to send needles flying walls, breaking vials of drugs on walls and floors, and passed through floors instead of the walls they set up for him. He mocked them when they asked him for explosions and brought rubble on their heads without care for any families they had.

It only took four days for them to put him in an isolated cell.

He spent the next year of his life in solitude - never out for more then a few hours before he did something to get thrown right back in - with his anger bubbling inside of him. He sat with his back against the wall and his legs crossed under him. Usually, he curled one hand around the arm Noh Varr used to write on and let his fingers sit there.

He was sitting that way when he felt the power dampeners go down.

He didn't hesitate to throw his hands out, blowing the wall in front of him to smithereens.

His original plan had been to dart out of the hole he made as soon as possible, but then he heard the voices.

"Cassie!" The cry came from a voice that sounded to smooth to be completely human.

"I'm okay." A girl. Around his age from the sound of it. "How's Billy?"

"I'll be fine." A boy. Around his age as well. "Eventually."

Tommy moved forward cautiously. He wasn't stupid enough to believe they were harmless - not when they had apparently just broken him out of prison - and charging out without knowing anything was a spectacularly bad idea.

The girl - Cassie? - spoke again, her tone somewhere between exasperated and concerned. "Billy, you're bleeding."

"That explains why it hurts," the boy - Billy apparently - answered.

"Vision, what did you do?" Cassie asked.

Tommy took that as his cue. "He set me free."

"Thomas?"

He stepped through the hole he'd created. He got his first look at the group as he corrected, "Tommy."

* * *

"The super skrull will not harm you - or anyone - ever again. The Kree army protects their own...and you are one of us."

Tommy felt himself straighten at the words. He thought Kate might have noticed, but her attention was quickly captured by the conversation in front of them.

Tommy was paying less attention to the actual happenings and more attention to the men in front of him.

His eyes darted to each of them, but he didn't see any of the features Noh Varr had described about himself. He didn't have that feeling that low hum of completeness and anticipation that was said to come with a soulmate meeting.

He wasn't that surprised, his kree wasn't even from this universe, but he still felt a flash of disappointment.

Kree, he realised as he swept his eyes over them again because this situation was very obviously going to end in a fight, were built like brick houses. It wouldn't end well for Tommy if he got too close, though the guns in their hands didn't make that look too likely.

The bright side was that Noh Varr was likely built the same way. Tommy had absolutely no complaints about that.

He didn't get to dwell on his soulmates possible (vastly superior) physical appearance much longer because Teddy made it clear he wasn't going anywhere with the Kree and that very obvious fight broke out.

* * *

Tommy took a deep breath as he slumped on the bench. He had flopped into the first bench he'd found once he'd left the courtroom.

When Tommy had left Murdock - and Tommy honestly didn't understand how he'd gotten to a point in his life where _Daredevil_ was his lawyer - had pressed some quarters into his hand and given him directions to a vending machine. There was something in his voice that made it obvious to Tommy that he understood just how much he needed to get out of there.

As Tommy reached for the knot in his tie, someone said, "I hear you got a full pardon."

He sucked in a deep breath.

He forced himself to look up.

Annie stood in front of him in a black dress with white flowers on it. It clinched around her waist, but flared up around her hips. Her hair, the same dark shade as her dress except for dyed red bangs, fell over her shoulders.

"You weren't in the court room," he said.

She gave a small shake of her head. "It would have made it harder if they sent you back."

"They didn't," Tommy said, even though she had already mentioned his pardon. "Apparently helping to stop an intergalactic war and getting Captain America to testify on your good behavior gets you a full pardon."

There was a moment of silence.

Then Annie's eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, don't do that," Tommy explained. He reached out for her, hand wrapping around her waist and tugged her in. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face against him. "You know how I feel about crying girls."

"Shut up," she murmured. "I missed you so much, Tommy."

"I missed you too," Tommy said

They held each other for a few moments before pulling away.

Annie took a few steps back when they did. As she reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes, Tommy caught a flash of silver on her arms.

"Does Roman still leave you murals?" He asked.

Before he'd gotten locked away Annie's soulmate had gotten good enough with English that they could communicate, but he'd left her the pictures anyway. They were part of their relationship and they meant a lot to the two of them.

She hummed softly as she dropped her arms. She turned them up so Tommy could see the drawing currently covering it. Stretching across both arms was what looked like a forest, filled to the brim with doodles of different forms of life. Tommy spotted everything from mushrooms to cardinals.

"He's gotten better," he remarked.

"He has," Annie agreed. "I have something for you."

"You do?" He watched as she reached up to the top of her dress. "You didn't even come into the courtroom because you were scared I'd get sent back to prison, but you bought me a present?"

"Yes. It's important." His heart clenched when he saw the green gel pen she pulled from her shirt. "I had to put it in my bra, because I didn't have pockets but-"

"No," he interrupted. He took the pen from her, holding it lightly between his fingers. "It's alright. Thank you."

He let out a shaky breathe. He pushed his other hand through his hair. "This is too much emotion for one day. I get told I don't have to go back to hell on earth, then you show up, and now I get to talk to Noh Varr again."

Annie hummed softly, but didn't say anything.

Tommy took another breath before rolling the sleeve of his dress shirt up.

He uncapped the pen with his teeth before hesitating. What was he supposed to write after their last conversation? What was he supposed to say after all this time?

He thought about when he was eleven, writing to a soulmate he didn't even know existed.

Mind made up, he lowered the pen to his wrist and wrote down the first thing Noh Varr had ever wrote to him.

'Hello.'

As he connected the o, he heard the courtroom door open.

"Tommy, Matt and I were thinking if swinging by a McDonald's before taking you to your apartment."

Looking away from what he had written, Tommy found Steve and Matt walking out together. Matt had his cane in his hand while his other rested on Steve's bicep.

"That sounds fine," Tommy said. He tugged his sleeve down before standing up. He saw Steve tracking the motion, but couldn't bring himself to care. He turned to Annie, "Do you wanna come with?"

"If it's alright," she said.

They both turned their gazes to Steve.

"I don't see why not," he agreed after a moment. To Matt, he added, "Tommy's friend is going to come with us if that's alright."

Matt gave a one shouldered shrug. "I don't see why not."

* * *

On the other side of United States, a man watched as green words were penned into his test subjects skin.

"Would you look at that? The cockroach has a soulmate," he drawled. He leaned closer to the tank the subject was enclosed in. "Did we know about this?"

"No sir," replied one of the lab assistants. "There's been no communication before now and it wasn't in the information we were given when we took him."

"Alright," the man said. "Make sure it stays off of them. There are too many laws that could stop our research if someone found out."

"Yes sir."

"Let the warden know about this though. He likes to keep track of his favorites."

"Yes sir."


	3. Gut Feelings (Of the Bad Variety)

Tommy's life fell into a lull, or as much of a lull as it could considering he was a superhero.

He spent his weekends working on his class work, when they'd released him the judge had made it mandatory for him to take online classes to finish school, at Avengers Tower or out on missions with the Young Avengers.

Occasionally he would tag along when the team went out for pizza or hung around together, but those occasions were few and far between. He just didn't entirely fit into their little group. He couldn't handle how _good_ they all acted and he couldn't stand the constant remarks about his history.

He spent his weekends with Annie. Sometimes they walked around Manhattan, eating food that made their fingers drip with grease and swapping stories about their weeks. Other times they locked themselves in her bedroom or his and did nothing but sing off key while each doing their own thing.

When Annie could get permission for a sleepover, Tommy would run the two of them somewhere else. They went everywhere from Miami to Stockholm to Cairo.

When they visited Russia, Annie was careful not to mention it when writing to Roman. She had met Tommy's parents, had seen the effects of a forced soulmate meeting first hand, and she had no desire to end up like them.

No matter what day it was or where he was, Tommy took time out of his day to write a simple ' _hello_ ' along his arm.

He didn't know why Noh Varr wasn't answering him, maybe he was upset about their last conversation or maybe he just didn't want to talk to Tommy, but after being without him Tommy knew he wasn't going to let Noh Varr go.

He'd keep writing it for years if that's how long it took for him to get a response.

* * *

The two things Tommy hated most were being locked up and being unable to run.

With a war brewing, Captain America had locked the Young Avengers down so Tommy was in both situations.

He'd joined Team Cap because the rest of the team had, but it was starting to feel like he had traded one prison for another. If he didn't get out soon, he was going to start thinking seriously about joining up with Iron Man.

It wasn't like the government didn't already know who Tommy was. Not registering was honestly putting him in more trouble then anyone else on the team.

"Eli, they fired missiles at them," Kate said. Tommy was leaning against the wall behind the two, watching as they leaned into each others space. "And they looked our age."

"Caps underground resistance has no support structure set up in Los Angeles," Eli said, the words clearly meant to be an explanation.

Tommy felt an urge to weep for joy at the opportunity presenting itself. He piped in, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go set one up."

"It's not that simple. I'll need to talk to Cap."

Considering Captain America was the one who had put them on monitor duty in the first place, Tommy doubted he would be letting them go off anytime soon.

He pushed off the wall as Eli started walking away, appealing directly to Kate, "Oh, come on! Let's just go!"

"Tommy's right," Kate agreed. "That boy looked hurt."

"You and Tommy have been making quite the team lately," Eli growled.

Tommy rolled his eyes so hard it physically hurt. Anyone with eyes could tell his flirting with Kate was nothing more then friendly. The last thing he wanted was to get dragged into the mess that was Eli and Kate because Eli's jealousy made him blind as well as stupid.

Kate opened her mouth, protesting, "Eli that's not-"

"Regardless," Eli interrupted, his voice cold, "Cap is in charge. I'm sure he'll see things our way."

Tommy thought Eli was deluding himself if he thought that was true. But, Eli was already out for his blood and Tommy wasn't about to start a fight when a chance to get out of the building was within reach.

Later that night when they were sneaking out on one of the jets, because Tommy was one hundred percent right about Captain America not wanting them to leave, Tommy felt like he was floating on clouds. He was filled with airy anticipation and the loud him of freedom.

It was so powerful he was able to ignore the way his gut was twisting and the insistent feeling trying to drum into him that him going to LA right now was wrong, wrong, wrong.

* * *

The feeling propels him through the trip, keeps him in a good enough mood to comment on how hot some members of the runaways are and mock Billy's spell casting.

When they land in LA the feeling of wrongness was rising, but there was still enough of the good to balance it out. He let that push him through the initial fight with Molly and then with Chase and Old Lace.

By the time Nico freezes them and they get out of the Runaways base, Tommy's running on fumes. The feeling in his gut was pushing in fast and it was getting hard to ignore. He tries pushing Molly away when she first wakes up because she's breaking his concentration, but in the end she's just a little too charming to ignore. He rides the fumes of his happiness, playing with her as the rest of their teams bond.

* * *

As he approached the area where he smelled the Skrull, Noh Varr felt a feeling on his stomach like stones settling.

His voice rung inside his head, giving words to the feeling building in him. It was loud, screeching over the old man giving him orders.

_Wrong, wrong, wrong. He couldn't be here. Not yet, not now. It wasn't time. Wrong, wrong, wrong._

It repeated it's message over and over again.

He found it comforting in a way. The old man clearly couldn't hear it, he was still cooing words of destruction without pause, but Noh Varr could.

He hoped it meant that whatever he was walking into was enough to take him from the cube, enough to tear him down.

Another feeling, a familiar one this time. It was the same feeling he got anytime he thought about dying. The feeling that he was forgetting something important.

Something that meant so much to him that he wanted to live for it.

* * *

He was darting his hand around, keeping a flower from Molly's grasp, when the feeling pressed in hot and hard.

He couldn't think, couldn't breath, couldn't see.

_Everything was wrong._

_Wrong, wrong, wrong. He couldn't be here. Not yet, not now. It wasn't time. Wrong, wrong, wrong._

"-mmy? Tommy!"

The sharp cries broke him from his thoughts, snapping him back to reality even as the feeling stayed stone heavy in his gut.

Molly was staring at him. Her eyes were wide with fear and her lips quivering. She must have grabbed the flower when he stopped because she had it gripped tightly in her hand.

"Hey," he said. He forced a smile to his lips and pointed at her hands. "You got it. Good one squirt."

"Are you okay, Tommy?" she asked. "Should I get the others?"

"No, no. I'm fine." She didn't look convinced. "Really, I've just got a bad feeling."

She tilted her head, the rabbit ears on her hat flopping around. "What kind of feeling?"

He struggled for the proper words for a minute before saying, "Like something's happening and if I stay then things are going to be wrong. Things won't be the way they're supposed to be."

"What sort of things?"

"I have absolutely no idea," he admitted.

A look of intense concentration settled over her face that startled a laugh out of Tommy.

"What if you left?" She asked. "I think it's probably going to take a while for everyone to talk. You could go for a run away from LA and probably be back before anyone came up with a decision!"

He took a quick look around the area. Eli and Cassie were standing by the Runaways robot, Billy and Teddy were bonding with the skrull, Kate and Vision were both standing by themselves, and the other three Runaways were whispering with their heads bent together.

It didn't look like they were going to come to an agreement about the Runaways protection anytime soon and the feeling was getting unbearable.

"Yeah. That sounds like a plan."

"Can I come with you?" she asked.

He gave her a smile, a more genuine one this time because he loved sharing this with people, and a nod. "Sure. How about Vegas? It's gorgeous this time of night. I can get us there and back in five minutes."

When she flashed him a beaming smile and a nod, he crouched down so she could climb onto his back.

When he was sure she was secure, he took off.

* * *

By the time they headed back into LA, the feeling in Tommy's chest had disappeared.

It eased back in as they drew closer to the Runaways frozen hide out, but it was nowhere near where it'd been before.

Even though it had returned, the brief reprieve he'd gotten from it when they had been in Vegas and the significantly lowered intensity of it was enough to set a smile on his face.

"Hey, what's with all the long faces?" He asked as he skidded up to the clearing. Everyone was looking a little rough and he didn't see Xavin, Karolina, Teddy, or Billy. "Did we miss something?"

He had barely gotten the words out when Chase stormed toward them. "We were attacked while you were gone. Xavin and Karolina got captured. Where were you?"

Tommy crouched down, letting Molly slip back off his shoulders. As she settled on the ground, she started, "T-Tommy was-"

"I don't want to hear it, Molly!" Tommy frowned at the way Chase was speaking to her and the way he seemed to be going after her. From the stories she'd told while they were playing, he didn't think he would do anything to her but Tommy certainly didn't like all the aggression being directed at a child. "You need to grow up. Do you hear me?"

Tommy was about to step in when Eli did it for him. He allowed himself to step back as Eli spoke with Nico and Chase.

He thought about what Chase had said. If Karolina and Xavin had been taken, then it was likely Billy and Teddy had been as well.

Tommy's fist clenched at his side. He might not like Billy, but he _was_  family.

Tommy wasn't going to let someone get away with taking that away from him just because of some bad feeling he had. He wasn't going to lose anyone else.

"The time to be runaways is over," Chase said. "It's time to do some avenging."

* * *

The feeling in Tommy's gut raged full force as they battled inside the cube. He kept to the outskirts of the battle, taking out as many of the minions as he could.

He heard Chase shouting something and saw Molly go flying when he turned his head to the sound.

He was about to duck in and help Chase fight whoever had hurt her when Vision burst on to the scene, the four that had been captured on his heels.

They drew their opponent away from Molly's body. He caught Eli's eyes and tilted his head towards her.

Eli slammed his fist into an opponents face before following Tommy's motion. His face hardened when he saw Molly, sprawled out on the floor and knocked out cold.

He gave a sharp nod.

Tommy didn't need any further permission. He had really only asked because of what happened earlier.

He ran at Molly top speed. He swept her up in his arms, briefly catching sight of the grateful look in Chase's eyes, and took off to find an exit.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the explosion of yellow that surrounded Vision and the man he'd been fighting but he couldn't make out either of their forms.

* * *

"Please... Let this be the end..." Noh Varr murmured as he fell to the ground.

He heard, more then saw, the robot crouch down beside him.

He was explaining something to someone, something about Noh Varr and the nanites in his body, but Noh Varr could barely process the information.

He was thinking about that thing that made him want to live, trying to conjure up an image of what it was that he had wanted so badly so he could see it in what he was sure were his last moments.

"Fine," snapped the person the robot had been speaking to. "But you only have a few minutes. We have to leave before anyone else arrives."

"That should be sufficient."

"Alright. I'm going to check on the others, so they know what's going on. I should probably let then know where Tommy ran off to too."

The name was the missing piece Noh Varr needed to latch onto the memories in his head.

He gasped as it came rushing back.

He remembered how fierce his rage had been when the Marvel first crashed because fate had taken his crew from him just as it'd taken Tommy. He remembered the lonely nights as he tried to adjust to having no one in his head. He remembered being so fiercely alone that he vowed to take the whole planet down. He remembered letting all of it take him over until he was captured and locked him in the Cube. He remembered the horror the first time they'd walked into his mind, just enough to assess that they'd succeeded. He remembered using a technique he'd learned from one of his crewmates to lock Tommy away so deeply that he wouldn't remember until he was ready, because they could stomp on Noh Varr's memories of the Marvel but he wouldn't allow anyone to touch what he had of Tommy.

"Tommy," Noh Varr gasped out, his eyes flying open. All he could see was the robot crouched over him, an arm held out over Noh Varr's body and his fingers spread. "I can not die-"

"You are not dying today," the robot assured. "As we speak, I'm fixing the damage that has been done so that your body may heal itself."

"Tommy," Noh Varr rasped again. He let his eyes dart around the room as much as possible given that he could yet sit up to look around. "He is here?"

He shot his head. "Not any longer. He left with an injured teammate right before we took you down."

"But he is _my_ Tommy?" Noh Varr asked.

The robots eyes scrunched in confusion.

A moment later, Noh Varr felt a prod in his head. It was a gentler touch then the one used by his captors, but it was still hard not to lash out against it.

The only thing holding him back was the idea that Tommy was here. The idea that, by some miracle, the Marvel had crashed in right universe and that Tommy had somehow escaped his own imprisonment during Noh Varr's.

"Ah." He felt the presence withdraw from his mind. "It appears he is the Thomas Shepherd you've been looking for. Should I call him back?"

Noh Varr remembered the sharp warning in his stomach earlier in the day.

It had been steering him away from Tommy, he realized. They weren't supposed to meet yet.

"No," Noh Varr answered, though it hurt as he forced the words out. "No. We're not supposed to meet yet. It won't turn out well if we do."

He looked confused by Noh Varr's request, but made no move to disregard his wishes.

Instead, he focused his attentions back on Noh Varr's healing.

The Kree laid back and stared at the ceiling as he worked.

Feelings he hadn't felt in a long time were welling up inside of him - excitement, happiness, hope.

* * *

Having said their goodbyes to the Runaways, the Young Avengers were back on the jet and on their way to face their punishment.

Billy and Teddy had disappeared into the back. Everyone else had taken the hint that they needed some time alone to cope and stayed in their seats.

Eli and Kate sat in their usual seats on either side of Vision's pilot chair. Cassie had flopped into  the one right behind Kate and Tommy sat behind Eli.

Tommy was slouched down, his head leaning against chair and his eyelids shut. All the running he'd done was catching up to him finally. He felt like he'd gone weeks without sleep.

"Hey, Vision!" Kate said. She leaned over in her seat, so that she was closer to their pilot. "How did you fix that Noh Varr guy? Eli tried explaining it, but-"

Tommy was suddenly wide awake. He pushed himself up straight in his chair, fixing his gaze on Kate. "What did you just say?"

Kate's eyes darted around, her confusion evident. She repeated, "Hey, Vision. How did you fix that Noh Varr guy? Eli tried explaining it, but-"

Tommy sucked in a deep breath. His fingers drifted to his arm, touching the skin there. He hadn't had time to write yet on account of the whole mess.

Vision made a sound that might have been a sigh. "I had been hoping to avoid this until we were a little closer to our destination."

That was really the confirmation he needed.

"You knew!" Tommy hissed. He vibrated in his seat, feeling his control slipping away from him. "You knew and you left him there!"

"It was what he wanted," Vision said with the sort of logic that only people without soulmates would use.

"I didn't even get to see him!"

"I asked him if he wanted me to call you once I realized what you were to each other," Vision said. He flipped a switch on the board before turning around to face Tommy. "He told me no. He said it wasn't time yet."

Tommy's fingers dug into his arm.

He knew it was true, but he couldn't help how shitty it felt. They had been so close and yet...

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," he told Vision.

He turned around in a swift motion, walking out of the room. He had something to do that was infinitely more important then catching a few hours of sleep.

As he left, he heard Kate ask, "Could someone explain to me what just happened?"

* * *

Noh Varr flopped himself into the chair in the center of the control room.

The Warden's dead body lay at his feet. There may have been circumstances under which he would have let himself revel longer in the man's fear, when he would have dragged him through as much humiliation as he'd put Noh Varr through, but they were not the current ones.

Noh Varr refused to risk the man gaining control over him again, no matter how unlikely it was. Not when he had the knowledge that he was in the same world as Tommy and they were both free.

He was reaching to mess with one of the monitors, there was so much he needed to do to before he left the facility, when he noticed a flash of green on his arm.

He'd taken his gauntlets off once he'd dealt with the staff as he intended to write to Tommy as soon as possible.

It appeared that Tommy had beaten him to it.

Written in sharp green ink was a simple, ' _Hello_.'

A smile spread on his face. He grabbed a pen from the desk in front of him and did a small calculation using the calendar on the wall.

' _Three years and all you have to say is hello?'_

Tommy's response came quickly.

' _I am sorry_.'

Noh Varr grimaced a bit at the phrase. Tommy was clearly going along with the template of their first conversation, but Noh Varr couldn't help remembering their last.

' _Don't apologize. Explain.'_

It was a moment before Tommy answered, breaking off from their game.

' _I will if you do_.'

He didn't even need to think about it.

' _Of course.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got so out of control? It's almost a thousand words longer then the previous one. 
> 
> So I really hope to guys like Annie because I'm planning on keeping her around. I'm actually gonna dig around the Marvel Boy comics for the canon introduction between her and Noh Varr for the next chapter. The thing is, I don't think Tommy ever really fit in with the Young Avengers and I wanted him to have someone he did fit with. 
> 
> You may be wondering what the deal is with the Tommy/Noh Varr warning system!!! The truth is: I have no idea? It's whatever you want it to be. Maybe it's the ghosts of the marvel crew watching out for their bby crew mate or maybe it's a thing all bonds have and some just ignore when setting up early meetings!
> 
> Do you guys want some stuff in here about other soulbonds in the universe? Because i focus a lot on Nohmmy but I can understand if you want other mentions.
> 
> Lastly, things got a little dark for Noh Varr this chapter and I hope you all understand why? He's not in a great place mentally and I wanted to reflect that.
> 
> I had so much to say about this chapter but it's midnight and I'm exhausted? So hopefully you enjoyed!


	4. The First Time I Saw You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a note, this chapter contains events from Secret Invasion (particularly Noh Varr's involvement) and Dark Avengers.  
> There's also some stuff that could be seen as infidelity though I pretty much establish they aren't in a relationship yet, no matter how important they are to each other. Also noh varr's a sap and tommy is beautiful.

The first few months after LA were rough.

They weren't the same people they had been when they'd been cut off from each other. They were no longer children. Neither of them had ever been exactly naive, the Marvel was a military ship even if a diplomatic one and a kid with parents like Tommy's learned quickly, but their respective imprisonments had changed them. Tommy found it harder to open up, even to Noh Varr who already knew most of the things he was hiding from people, and Noh Varr was filled with anger, be it for the loss of the Marvel or everything that had been done to the two of them, that wouldn't go away in a night.

Time couldn't heal all wounds, but communication helped with quite a lot of them.

Noh Varr didn't push Tommy. He nudged him towards things, but backed off the second Tommy made it clear he didn't want to talk about something. When Tommy did open up about his experiences, Noh Varr answered with honesty. He told Tommy when what he was saying made him angry - and any mention of the things that had happened to Tommy in prison was certain to make him angry - and he didn't tell Tommy he understood or that it would get better unless he knew it would.

Tommy didn't make insist that Noh Varr give earth or humanity a chance, on the nights when Noh Varr was inclined to share his experiences in the Cube Tommy almost agreed with him, but casually steered Noh Varr towards things he thought the man would love. He kept a running list of all the food Noh Varr should try, was constantly throwing out suggestions of things for Noh Varr to do - anything to get him out of the Cube because Tommy really didn't understand why Noh Varr was staying there -, and answered questions he could and passed the questions on when he couldn't.

Slowly, they adjusted.

Tommy gave up more and more little facts and then he started giving up the big things. Noh Varr spoke less about revenge and creating a new empire and more about the things he was enjoying on earth.

Things came to a head during the Skrull invasion.

* * *

Tommy collapsed onto the bed.

It wasn't his bed, he honestly wasn't sure if his apartment was still in tact, but one in one of the rooms in the Young Avengers Headquarters.

Actually, given that the place had enough rooms for all of them, provided that Teddy and Billy shared which they always did, he supposed it was entirely possible the room was supposed to be his.

At the moment though, he wasn't really too concerned about whose bed it was. He was just happy to be off his feet.

Everyone was tired, but Tommy was gone. It felt like he hadn't slept in months. His vision was blurry and standing up was a challenge. His train of thought weaved in all directions since he was couldn't focus enough to keep it in one place. He'd managed to shovel enough food into his mouth when they arrived back at the Headquarters to make up for all the calories he'd lost, but now all he wanted was to fall asleep for twelve hours.

But, there was something he needed to take care of first.

He fumbled with the caches on his uniform until he managed to open one of the small pockets on it. He pulled a green pen from it and lifted his arm above his head so he could see as he wrote.

His hand shook as he scribble and Tommy winced when he saw how wobbly his handwriting was.

_'You were in New York today.'_

Tommy still remembered the way the unsettling feeling from LA had flared in his stomach. He remembered the initial feeling of happiness - because Noh Varr was here and not doing whatever it was he did in the Cube all day - followed by frustration when he remembered that the feeling meant it wasn't time for them to meet.

He spent the rest of the battle running faster and hitting harder then he had before.

If he felt the feeling increase, he redirected his attentions somewhere else. It involved a lot of grinding teeth and swears every time.

The worst part had been when they'd grouped up afterwards. Noh Varr was gone already, but everyone in the room was talking about the way his arrival had energized them and turned the tide of the battle.

It sucked knowing he'd been so close and not being able to see him.

Noh Varr's response etched itself under Tommy's words. _'Yes.'_

Tommy scrunched his nose. Noh Varr knew it wasn't a question and having it answered like one was irritating.

_'Why?'_

_'The Cube lost power. It wasn't safe to stay there.'_ Tommy was about to ask why he had fled to New York specifically, when more writing appeared. _'I saw Captain Mar-Vell. He asked me to help.'_

Tommy thought about his response for a minute. Part of him wanted to ask if he knew that Captain Marvel had been a skrull impostor, but there was something more important he wanted to know. _'Why'd you listen to him?'_

_'He said something that I agreed with.'_

_'Which was?'_

_'There are things on Earth that aren't so bad. There are things here that are worth saving.'_

Tommy felt something in his chest ease at the words. This moment had been in the works for months. He didn't care that he hadn't been the one that helped Noh Varr reach that final decision as long as Noh Varr had reached it. As far as Tommy was concerned, it was a sweeter victory then the one against the Skrulls.

With his questions about Noh Varr's appearance at least partially answered, Tommy began to feel the pull of sleep on his body as his exhaustion took over again.

_'I'm going to sleep for a very long time now. I'll have more questions once I wake up though.'_

Noh Varr's reply was the last thing he saw before he drifted to sleep.

_'I'll be here, hala.'_

* * *

After the Skrull Invasion, their relationship seemed to go back to something akin to what they'd had before their separation.

Their conversations were less trying to figure the other out and more the two of them simply being with each other again.

Tommy had always been pretty tight lipped about his soulmate - whether because there was nothing to tell before LA or because afterwards their conversations had been to personal -, but now it became impossible to find him without a pen in his hand and ink staining his skin.

Anytime he wore short sleeves, he would find the team staring at the words that typically covered both his arms. He didn't particularly care if they looked. His skin was a tangle of sixties song lyrics (Tommy really hated that because Noh Varr had a habit of picking the catchiest shit) and Kree lessons that Noh Varr left and the stories and recommendations that Tommy threw back. It wasn't something he was ashamed of.

He was actually pretty proud of his relationship with Noh Varr. Teddy and Billy's relationship was so easy and simple. He found the whole thing pretty disgusting. Tommy thought he and Noh Varr had a bond that was infinitely more awesome for all the things they'd been through together.

And they hadn't even met yet. He figured they were bound to be pretty awesome once they did.

* * *

Noh Varr walked down the streets of Manhattan with his hands shoved in his pockets.

Figuring out what to do now that he knew the team he had joined were criminals was turning out to be a lot harder then he thought it would be.

He figured it would be a lot easier if he asked Tommy's opinion, but that just felt awkward given that he'd have to explain sleeping with Karla to explain how he'd learned the truth.

Relationships, especially sexual ones, weren't uncommon before one met their soulmate. Some people shied away from them, but he and Tommy had never been those people. Most people didn't mention relationships to their soulbonds either, but Tommy and Noh Varr had always been open with each other on that front.

Tommy had written to Noh Varr after his first kiss (he'd played spin the bottle at a party shortly after entering high school and kissed a girl) and when Noh Varr asked after their re-connection Tommy had shared how he lost his virginity without hesitation (he'd slept with a girl he'd met at a club shortly after getting out of prison and his first time with a guy had been when he managed to convince the team to get fake IDs and take Billy to a gay bar for his eighteenth birthday). When Noh Varr slept with crew mates on the Marvel, he made sure to let Tommy know.

This thing with Karla was different though. He wasn't sure if his reluctance to tell Tommy was because he didn't want to explain that he'd been hiding the whole Avengers - Dark Avengers, apparently - thing or simply because it felt odd to talk about sleeping with other people when they belonged to each other so undeniably now.

Tommy was his hala, but they were still figuring out where to redraw their lines. They'd always had a sense that the bond wasn't platonic, but as they drew closer to each other that fact was becoming more evident.

"Stop following me!" The shout broke Noh Varr out of his thoughts. "I told you it was over!"

He looked around for the source.

There was a girl stalking across the park, her face set in a firm frown and her hair whipping around her face, while a man followed behind her.

"Come on!" the man begged. Noh Varr saw him reach out and only just managed to twist her arm away from his fingers. He decided that was his cue to intervene."You're only doing this because of that stupid kid you hang out with. I promise I can do better then him."

The girl snapped out, "I'm dumping you because you're a scumbag, not because I'm in love with Tommy."

He reached out for the girl again, saying, "We both know that's a-"

The man cut himself off as Noh Varr grabbed onto his wrist. The Kree straightened his back, looming over the other man. "She said to stop following her. I think you should listen, don't you?"

For a moment, Noh Varr thought the guy was gonna fight him.

He almost wished he would. Punching someone would be a good way to get rid of some of his frustration at the last few days.

"Whatever," the man muttered. He pulled his wrist roughly and Noh Varr let his grip break. He stood right where he was, watching as the man stormed back the direction that he'd come.

"Thank you." Turning his head slightly, he saw the girl was standing a few steps away from him. "I could've taken care of it myself, but I appreciate the assistance."

"No problem," he answered with a shrug. He suddenly felt a little out of his depth here. He didn't remember ever having spoken to a human civilian before. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

"Some people would argue that's a very anti-feminist train of thought." She reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she said, "I'm Annie."

He shoved his hands back into his pockets, unsure where the conversation was going. "I am Noh Varr."

Annie's eyes went wide. "Tommy's Noh Varr?"

He blinked several times as he processed what she'd said. Then he answered back, "You are Tommy's Annie?"

"Yes! Oh wow! I wasn't expecting to meet you before he did!" Unable to figure out the proper response, he just gave a small smile. Annie let out a sharp huff of laughter before stopping abruptly. Something seemed to occur to her as a sly grin spread over her face. "Noh Varr, would you like to see a picture of Tommy?"

He was caught slightly off guard by the question. This conversation just seemed to be throwing him further and further out of comfort zone. But he certainly wasn't going to let his discomfort take such an opportunity away from him. "I would like that very much."

"Great!" She fished around in her pocket for a moment before pulling out her phone. She pressed a few buttons before flipping the screen around so Noh Varr could see.

The picture was of the two of them,Tommy's arm thrown over Annie's shoulders and their cheeks pressed together, but Noh Varr barely noticed Annie's presence in the photo.

Tommy was beautiful. Noh Varr had known he'd find Tommy attractive - with a romantic bond it was almost guaranteed since a relationship without attraction only worked in certain circumstances (asexual romantic bonds had been explained to Noh Varr and he could see the sense in them even if he didn't agree) - but this was so much more then he'd imagined.

The pictured appeared to have been taken in some sort of club. Tommy's white hair was noticeably damp and swept to one side. There was a manically happy look in his eyes, which were the same shade as green as the ink he used when writing. His lips were pulled up in a grin which showed off sharp, white teeth.

Noh Varr knew he was still going to have to explain Karla to Tommy, but he knew right away that he wasn't going to be sleeping with anyone else.

Not when this beautiful, wonderful, boy was his. His love, his soulmate, his hala.

"You love Tommy a lot."

It wasn't a question, but Noh Varr reluctantly tore his eyes from the photo so he could meet Annie's. She was important to Tommy and it was important to Noh Varr that she understood. "Yes."

"I'm glad." She flipped her phone back around. As she was pressing more buttons, she asked, "Do you want to take a picture with me? I think it's only fair that Tommy gets to see what you look like as well."

"I agree."

"We should go out for coffee after this," Annie said as she shuffled closer to him. He had to bend down to press his cheek to hers the same way Tommy had. She held two fingers up in a V by their faces. Her phone clicked as she snapped the photo. She stepped away immediately, head tilting down as she sent the picture to Tommy. "I'll tell you all the embarrassing stories Tommy never wanted to tell you. I've got a few more photos of him too. I found some photos of our awkward preteen phases and sent pictures of them to Tommy recently. It'll be fun."

"I'd like that," Noh Varr said with complete honesty.

He'd heard a lot about Annie from Tommy, both back when they had been children and now, and he'd always hoped the two of them would be friends the same way Tommy had been friends with the crew of the Marvel.

That thought was enough to make him frown.

He didn't get long to dwell on it, of course, because Sentry showed up and suddenly he was reminded why he was walking aimlessly around Manhattan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO ORIGINALLY I was supposed to take this chapter all the way to Young Avengers V2, but I had over 3K and I hadn't even handled the events in Childrens Crusade yet, so I cut it down to the last mark and called it good there. 
> 
> ALSO, can i just say thank you for such a positive response?? I've always seen AO3 as a place where you don't really get coments, you get kudos instead. But you guys have been lovely about leaving me your thoughts and I would really like for that to continue if you have the time!  
> So yeah, hopefully everyone enjoyed. The next chapter may be out later today since it's already half finished or it may be out tomorrow. I just don't know yet.


	5. Someone Stop the Avengers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Events in this chapter touch on the occurrences of Avengers v X-Men (act one as it pertains to Noh Varr/The Protector though the actual scene (the second scene in this chapter) takes place in the ten days between volumes five and six) and Young Avengers: Children's Crusade (the fourth scene). im so uncertain of which Avengers were on the team at which times, buuuuuuuuut the Marvel Wiki is telling me these are the guys that were around in AvX so I went with them!
> 
> Also, Tommy gets super emotional during this chapter which is wildly out of character for him. But that emotion is mostly anger and that's not hugely out of character so hopefully you guys don't mind? 
> 
> This chapter involves a lot of the boys being protective of each other and Tommy having conversations with people who get it. It's not hugely exciting and Noh Varr isn't in it a ton, so sorry? But it establishes some stuff for the next chapter (lemme tell u, Noh Varr is gonna lose his shit during YA2) and gives some good insight I think?
> 
> it's not my fav though, so your feedback would be appreciated. ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR THE 2-3K OF NOH VARR ANGST THATS COMING NEXT CHAPTER? BECAUSE I AM

Somehow, the Avengers don't manage to find out about the two of them while Noh Varr's on their team.

They noticed that Noh Varr had a soulmate.

It was hard not to notice. The Protector costume covered a lot, but it wasn't like Noh Varr wore it all the time and when it wasn't on it was impossible to miss.

His arms were covered in Tommy's jokes and stories. Occasionally, he would even catch Carol reading the Kree that Noh Varr had written to Tommy. The first time she read a sentence were Noh Varr addressed his soulmate as hala she had turned a bright cherry red. Noh Varr still felt a little smug about that, clearly she had learned the significance of the term even if she wasn't a born Kree and it served her right for intruding on something that was none of his business.

There had been a long time where he had assumed they knew, but the first time he'd brought Tommy up in conversation they had all given him this look like they couldn't figure out why he was talking abut the Young Avengers speedster. He could have told them the truth then, but he didn't. The Avengers had a terrible habit of interfering with the lives of the Young Avengers and he didn't need them thinking they had to protect Tommy from him.

As time went on, it began to feel like none of the Avengers actually cared about Tommy. As often as the Young Avengers came up, it was never Tommy that they were talking about. Clint sung Kate's praises constantly, whether that was because of the platonic bond they shared or because she was his protege was up for debate. Carol had recently started speaking to Teddy, apparently the boy had reached out for information on his father, and made occasional off hand remarks about him. Wolverine was in a constant fit about the Scarlet Witch and Wiccan. Steve expressed concern for Cassie Lang and Eli Bradley on account of his association with their guardians.

None of them saw the fantastic boy in their midst and to Noh Varr, who had the most experience with Tommy at both his highs and his lows, found it unfathomable. Tommy was more powerful then anyone gave him credit for, hell even Quicksilver had to touch something before he could blow it up, and had the most street smarts of the whole team. His wacky moral compass made up for the fact that the rest of the team were golden children and pushed them into doing things outside of their comfort zone.

But, when he pushed their disregard for his soulmate aside, Noh Varr actually enjoyed being an Avenger.

He liked the work he was doing, liked helping people.

He liked being on a team.  
  
It felt a lot like being on the Marvel again. He told Tommy that once and Tommy, who had collected stories about the Marvel the way most children collected stories from their grandparents, hadn't agreed.

Noh Varr still remembered the words Tommy had written.

Green letters had curled along Noh Varr's skin, _'You didn't have to worry about things on the Marvel because everyone on the ship was connected. They understood what you were thinking and they helped you correct your mistakes. The Avengers aren't known for being understanding of mistakes.'_

He'd kept the words in his head, but he'd never taken them seriously.

It made him feel all that much worse after he stole the Phoenix force. He had taken the Phoenix Force because he thought the Kree were going to help Earth. The second he'd realized his mistake, he'd taken it back to the Avengers. But they didn't care that he'd realized his mistake, didn't care that Noh Varr had come to love earth and even if he didn't he would never have endangered it when his soulmate was there.

They didn't allow him to explain.

Instead, they banished him from earth - from the planet that housed his hala because this Kree Empire wasn't his and his home in this dimension was a boy with green eyes that was waiting to meet him - and left him in hostile territory.

* * *

Tommy appeared in the Avengers meeting room with a burst of speed and a gust of wind.

All eyes in the room went to the boy who had just appeared in the room. His green eyes were alive with anger and his whole body vibrated with the force of his rage. His clothes, a loose black tank top which bared his arm and the flurry of ink scrawled along them and jeans slung low on his hips, blew around him as the wind from his abrupt stop blew around him. He looked like a tornado hungry to touch down and start it's destruction

Before any of the Avengers could react, there was the soft blue glow of Billy's magic somewhere behind him.

"Tommy!" Billy exclaimed. Tommy didn't have to turn around to know his brother had teleported the whole team with him. "Maybe now isn't the best time to do this!"

"Kate," Clint said. Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy saw him stand up. "What's going on?"

Tommy ignored them, his eyes darting around the room as he searched for the people he wanted. Hank McCoy and Carol Danvers were both present, though not standing directly next to each other.

"Who in the hell gave you the right?" Tommy hissed as he stepped towards them.

He saw the two exchange glances when they realized it was him their attention was on. The confusion on their faces only served to enrage him further.

"Tommy," Carol said, her voice placating in a way that Tommy found condescending. He figured, however, that anything they did right now was going to piss him off. "What are you talking about?"

"He was trying to fix his mistake!" Tommy exclaimed. His hand flew out, gesturing in anger. It was a miracle that he still had enough control that the motion didn't blow one of the walls up. "You left him there to get killed by them! Do you know how much of a miracle it is he's still alive?"

There was a moment before Hank inquired, his voice not quite certain, "This is about The Protector?"

"Have you stranded anyone else on an enemy planet recently?" Tommy snapped.

"Why do you care what happened to him?"

"Because he's mine! Noh Varr is _mine_ and you had no right to put him even further out of my reach! Not when we were so fucking close!"

A long silence stretched over the room. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as they processed the information that'd been given to them.

Steve spoke in the same soft tone that Carol had before, if Tommy wasn't staring Carol and Hank down he would have rolled his eyes so hard it hurt, "What do you mean he's yours?"

"He's my soulmate," Tommy answered. His lips curled back as he snarled, "And they banished him as though he had no right to be here!"

"He betrayed us!" Hank argued.

"So have half the people on this fucking team! And at least he had a reason, and a damn good one at that, for it!" The wind storm in his eyes raged as he ranted. "Do you even understand that? Do you understand how much he's gone through and how much he's lost? I got thrown into prison because of a power manifestation I couldn't control! His ship crashed on a different planet in a different fucking universe and every friend he had died! SHIELD threw him into the Cube to be experimented on! He saw a way to get at least some of that back, he found a way to do something for the empire he lost when he crashed here, and he took it! And despite what was being offered to him, he went against them the second he realized they weren't trying to help us!"

By the time he finished, his chest was heaving and the vibration of his body had become even more predominant.

"Tommy," Billy whispered. He looked over at his brother. Billy was taking a step towards him, a worried look on his face. Over Billy's shoulder, he saw Teddy's lips press into thin lines like he didn't agree with Billy coming closer to the bundle of rage that was the Young Avengers speedster. "You've got to calm down. You're going to blow something up at this rate."

"I honestly don't give two shits if I blow this stupid ass tower to smithereens!"

"Yes you do." Every head was drawn to Peter when he spoke. He was watching Tommy, his eyes were clear of the fear that everyone elses held. Instead they were filled instead with sad understanding. "If you blow the tower up, you'll end up right back in prison. The last thing you want right now is to leave him alone again, right?"

Tommy took a moment before nodding and giving a reluctant, "Right."

"I get it, you know?" Peter said. "Maybe not completely, since Johnny and I had years by each others side before he got stuck in the negative zone, but I know how scary it is to have your bond cut off from you and I know how protective you get of it when you get it back."

At the words of someone who actually got it, Tommy seemed to deflate. His shoulders hunched as he let out a defeated, "I thought we were going to meet soon since we were basically working with each other. I figured it was inevitable."

"I promise you that whatever weird power figures out your soulmate has already factored this whole event into your first meeting. It'll still happen and it'll happen exactly when it's supposed to. I promise I will do whatever I can to make sure he gets back here so it can, but you've got to let us get this thing with the X-Men sorted out first. " Peter declared. "Just keep doing the writing thing like you've been doing."

It made Tommy feel like a child, but he said, "You promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Peter swore, giving Tommy a grin.

Tommy didn't like the idea of entrusting the issue to someone he barely knew, but if there was anyone he thought would keep his word it was Spiderman.

"Alright," he said. "As long as we take care of it as soon as the Phoenix situation is sorted out."

* * *

Taking care of it meant having a huge screaming match wherein Carol was adamant that Noh Varr was only returning to Earth over her dead body and several people had to hold Tommy back from making it a reality.

When things finally got settled, Tommy was still a Young Avenger (there were a few minutes there when he really thought he was going to get kicked off the team) and the majority ruled that Noh Varr would be allowed planet side again in two or three years provided he didn't go stirring trouble.

It was less than Tommy wanted but Noh Varr, who he'd been writing to the whole time much to the cringe of almost everyone present, had insisted it was already more then he had hoped for. He had also made sure to remind Tommy several times that he was upset with him for starting a fight with the Avengers.

Tommy mostly ignored that though. He thought the potential gain was greater then the risk and, considering he'd gotten what he wanted without losing his superhero status, Noh Varr didn't really have an argument against him since Tommy had come out on top.

Noh Varr did, however, manage to extract a promise from Tommy that he wouldn't go around starting anymore fights with the Avengers.

Not that Tommy got to keep that promise very long, since Billy decided to knock a group of cultists out and find the Scarlet Witch.

* * *

Tommy sat on the floor outside the room he and Eli were sharing. It wasn't an arrangement he was particularly happy with, but it wasn't like either of them could sleep with Cassie or Kate and no one was stupid enough to suggest separating Billy and Teddy.

He had one leg stretched out in front of him while the other was bent at the knee. A green pen balanced on top of his folded leg and Tommy was staring at it as it teetered.

"Thomas." He looked up to find Erik standing next to him. Tommy found it a little surreal to see him in sweatpants and a tee-shirt instead of the Magneto costume. "What are you doing out here? You should be resting."

"I'll go to bed in a bit," Tommy said."I've got to figure out how to explain this to Noh Varr first. He's going to be so angry about all of this."

"This would be your soulmate?" Tommy watched as Erik lowered himself onto the floor. He settled next to Tommy, leaning his back against the same wall. There was enough space between them that their shoulders didn't brush, but it was a near thing. Tommy gave a small nod in response. "He will not support your quest to find your mother?"

"It's not my quest," he argued. "It's Billy's."

"Then, he doesn't believe you should support your brother?"

"It's not an issue of support," Tommy answered with a shake of his head. "I promised not to get in another fight with the Avengers and here I am fighting with the Avengers for a cause I don't even really care about."

"You don't want to find your mother?"

"I didn't realize you were starting a game of twenty questions when you sat down."

Erik let out a chuckle. "You are my grandson. Is it so strange for me to be curious about your life and the people in it?"

"Yes," Tommy deadpanned. He saw Erik's lips quirk at his honesty. "Billy and I have been around for a few years. Neither you or Pietro were interested before."

"I can't speak for my son," he said, drawing his words out, "but there has never been a time when I wasn't interested in my family. However, I also have no mind to force my presence when it isn't wanted. Considering you threw in with the Avengers, I assumed it was not."

"You don't seem to mind forcing it on us now."

"Now," Erik declared, leaning his head back and turning to face Tommy, "is a different circumstance. I want to find my daughter, help her if she needs it, and I'm willing to do what I have to in order to do that."

Tommy tapped the middle of the pen, still balanced on his knee, as he asked, "And this has nothing to do with Billy's little display the other day?"

"If I was after your powers, I would have come when you displayed your potential during your argument with the Avengers." He must have seen the surprise on Tommy's face, because he added, "Yes, I heard about that. This community - superheros and supervillians - is one that loves to gossip." He paused for a beat before speaking again, "However, it would be a lie to say that Billy's display didn't motivate me in some way, it simply wasn't the way you think."

"How did it then?"

"The Avengers have always been afraid of Wanda. I thought Billy might be facing the same prejudice she did and that he may have a greater interest in finding her now." He gestured around them, "Clearly it was not an incorrect assumption."

"I suppose not." They fell quiet for a minute. When Tommy spoke again, he addressed the earlier question, "It's not so much that I don't want to find Wanda as it is that I don't understand Billy's insistence that we need her or something. Maybe he needs her to figure out his powers, but I've lived nineteen years without a mother. I certainly don't need one now."

"I do not doubt your ability to survive, or even to be happy, without her in your life," Erik said. "However, no matter what you've been through, you are still very much a child, Thomas. Having adults you can trust to help you when you need help is not a bad thing. There are simply some things children aren't capable of."

"And I'm supposed to see Wanda as that adult?" Tommy questioned. "Even though I've never met her?"

"No one expects you to trust right away," he answered. "But if you don't make any attempts to know her, how will you know what your missing?"

He scoffed, "People only say things like that to get others to do what they want."

"Maybe. But I think there's a sliver of truth to the statement." Erik, pushed himself to his feet. His hand landed on Tommy's head for a moment, ruffling the white locks gently. "Go to sleep soon. I'm sure you're brother will be up and causing trouble sooner rather than later."

"Unless Teddy tied him to the bed," Tommy agreed, then winced because wow images he didn't need.

He heard Erik's chuckles as he walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

He waited until he heard a door shut, the laughter fading behind it, before sighing. He snatched the pen off his knee.

Time to face the music.

* * *

 In the aftermath of Vision and Cassie's death, Noh Varr helped Tommy piece himself back together again. 

He wasn't struck with grief the way Kate and Billy seemed to be. What hurt wasn't their deaths, but the failure of their deaths and the way the team fell apart. 

Noh Varr helped him through it.

He helped Tommy realise that while you should certainly try, not everyone can be saved, and got him through the sleepless nights. He helped Tommy come to terms with the team dissolving and encouraged him to make sure his friendships didn't go with it. He helped Tommy come up with a schedule that let him keep superheroing even as he worked and was always there to make sure Tommy didn't let his odd schedule keep him from eating. 

Tommy got through it and came out the other end stronger, but he couldn't have done it by himself. Having his soulmate helped him.

He knew Kate was going through the same thing. Her bond with Clint wasn't romantic like Noh Varr and Tommy's, but he helped her deal with her grief all the same.

He just hoped Billy would let Teddy help him as well.


	6. Blank Arms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!! The Young Avengers V2 chapter. Complete with tons of spoilers and angst.  
> You guys know how chapter two was like 2K of Tommy being alone and shit?? This chapter is absolutely the Noh Varr equivalent only with more Young Avengers, more plot, and more anger!!!  
> So. Much. Anger.
> 
> Also for clarification, I've placed Tommy's aliennapping (is this what we're calling it???) as happening the same day Billy first summons "Mother" even though the comic doesn't technically show it until issue 6? I just think the whole thing flows better this way - especially with David's assumption in the end of the comic that one of them sacrifices themselves because Tommy's aliennapping was needed for Billy to become the demiurge. Don't get me wrong, we're fucking with timelines for shippy reasons, I just happen to think it flows better this way outside of shipping as well. 
> 
> Also I want to say that this chapter has a lot of lines that come straight from the comics for purposes of scene continuity. Basically, it'd be weird if I carved those lines out and went straight to Noh Varr's lines in those scenes. So, yeah. Remember that I don't own any of that stuff!!
> 
> Also, Noh Varr gets pretty angry in this chapter. Like, he takes his pain out on a lot of people including (though not limited to): Loki, Billy, and David. He also gets in some tiffs with Teddy. So just to warn you guys. He doesn't actually throw punches but threats are made. And a warning: while I love Teddy and Billy, Noh Varr has some pretty rude thoughts about this relationship and just plain doesn't get it?? There's gonna be more about that next chapter (bc spoiler alert: Billy angsting about teddy leaving even though he could still write to him is not gonna fly with the boy who can't even talk to his soulmate) and you may want to reconsider your reading of this story if you don't like the way it's handled in this chapter. It's not gonna be a big deal - and it'll mostly be Noh Varr projecting his feelings about the situation with Tommy - but I thought a heads up would be fair. 
> 
> I'm not particularly fond of the way I ended this chapter? So let me know if you had any issues with it. 
> 
> And I added a bit to the last chapter to connect it more fluidly to this one, so if you didn't see the bit about Tommy post-CC you might wanna go back and read it?
> 
> SORRY THIS END NOTE IS SUPER LONG? Enjoy part one of YA V2! it's almost 1K longer then the previous longest chapter!

It was the middle of the night when Noh Varr got the sudden feeling that something was wrong.

He tried to keep his schedule lined up with the Earth's day cycle since it made talking to Tommy easier, but he'd been working on a project and had got caught up in it. The second the feeling hit him, he looked up from the object in his hand.

He looked around the lab quickly, wondering if something had tumbled from it's place and spooked him out of his head. When nothing seemed to have moved, he cast a glimpse out the window to see if something was coming towards the ship. His eyes caught nothing but the curve of earth's surface and the distant stars.

As he went to stand up, wanting to move to the ships controls to check everything there, his eyes caught sight of his arm.  
He let them linger, checking to see if Tommy had done something stupid, but the only message there was the one Tommy had left hours ago. They had been talking about the thief in Tommy's workplace who had dressed up as Patriot before Tommy left to meet up with his new friend - ' _His name's David. He's an ex-mutant, a super genius, and most importantly not boring like everyone else working here.'_ \- for dinner before they started their stakeout.

Though he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, he felt compelled to grab the nearest pen and scribble a quick message.

_'Are you still on your stakeout?'_

He watched the words for a minute before shaking his head. There was no reason for him to assume something was wrong with Tommy.

By the time he did a sweep of the space and determined nothing was out of place, an hour had passed. Something niggled in the back of his mind, pushing him to look back at his arm.

Tommy hadn't replied yet.

A fraction of a frown turned Noh Varr's lips down, but he pushed it aside again. If he was still in the warehouse, then he'd still be in the suit and wouldn't be able to see it. It was getting late, so he crawled into bed.

Before he let himself get comfortable, he wrote another message, 'Let me know when you wake up? I want to hear how it went.'

When he woke up, seven hours had passed without any response from Tommy. The worry was starting to settle in deeper, but Noh Varr tried to tell himself it might have just been because Tommy was sleeping late. Noh Varr had only slept for five hours, but he knew Tommy slept longer then that any time he could and it seemed likely that Tommy had went to bed late.

The ten hour mark came and went. Noh Varr forced himself to sit down in his lab. He tried to get some more work done, but he couldn't think about anything other then how strange all of this was. Anytime he looked at his arm to see if Tommy had responded, he saw the ghost of that last message years ago. 'I love you. Don't write to me anymore.'

That had hurt enough the first time, when they'd only had three years together. They were closing in on nine - six if one didn't count the time they weren't able to speak to each other - and had a lot more history between them now. He wasn't sure he could handle that again.

When the twelve hour mark crept up, Noh Varr searched for his phone. He'd made his phone himself as a recreational project. It hadn't been hard since Earth was so behind technologically. Since he had a direct link to Tommy, the occasional conversation with Annie was the only thing he used it for.

He sent the girl a quick message, asking if she'd heard from Tommy today.

Her answer came thirty minutes later, with an apology and an explanation that she'd been in class. It was a negative, but she offered to drop by his apartment when she finished her last class for the day.

Hour fifteen found Noh Varr a nervous wreck as he paced around the ship. Annie had been to Tommy and hadn't seen any sign that he'd been there that day. His arm was a mess of angry pleas begging for Tommy to respond and letting him know just how not funny he found this whole thing.

Hour seventeen, he made a decision.

Hour eighteen, he managed to get to sleep.

Hour twenty-four, he woke rested enough to fly the ship without worry. He cared very little for the fact that the Avengers had banned him from Earth. Something was clearly wrong with Tommy and he wasn't going to let anything stop him from finding out what it was.

With communication with Tommy cut off and Annie having already said she hadn't heard from Tommy, he went to find Billy Kaplan.

Unfortunately, when he found him he was being attacked by an inter-dimensional space monster. The Bishop girl emerged on the scene at the same time, took one look at the crowd, and said that she'd known something was wrong when Billy didn't answer her text right away.

Noh Varr bit back an almost hysterical laugh at that because really this girl had no idea.

He didn't really have time to question anyone about Tommy, because moments later his parents were bursting onto the scene and suddenly the fight was taking up a good chunk of his attention. Thoughts about his soulmate flared up in his mind everytime a maneuver put his arms in his sight, but he did his best to shake it off.

He couldn't find Tommy if he was dead.

The fight had to come first.

* * *

When Loki woke up, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Oh good. We're still alive."

Noh Varr itched with the need to move. He couldn't see his arms with the suit on, but he knew instinctively that Tommy still hadn't answered him. They were going on almost thirty hours now.

"Evil mischief gods awake," he said, balanced on the ships exit ramp. "Can we get back in my spaceship now? We need to be gone."

"No, we don't. Or at least, not as hastily as you think," Loki argued. Noh Varr thought that the god really didn't understand what was going on here if he thought that was true. "Mother blinds adults to what's happening. She subverts parents to her side. Unless they're able to resist like your dear scarlet mom. But dead parents? The spell brings them back But where was Laufey? Where was Kate's mother? It's distance based. The constructs only activate when we're near to where they died."

Noh Varr came to the conclusion that Loki really didn't know what was going on here. What was going on being that Noh Varr couldn't care less about the whole parent situation. He just wanted to find Tommy.

Before he could voice this, America gestured between the two of them and said, "But our parents-"

"Had something in common," Loki interrupted. He shrunk back a bit when America directed a glare his way, but pushed ahead. "They died spread across the multiverse. They were everywhere so as long as we're anywhere, they can come. That's why we had to cancel their spells specifically. But as long as we stay away from where everyone else's parents are and/or were, we're fine." He held his fingers up, counting off, "So no New York, nowhere near the world tree, no-- Where did your mom die, Kate?"

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but Noh Varr cut in, "That's not going to work. I need to be in New York and, considering you need my spaceship to go anywhere, that means that's where we're staying."

Loki turned away from Kate to look at Noh Varr. "Why exactly do you need to be in New York?"

"I'm looking for someone," Noh Varr said. He crossed his arms over his chest, taking a firm stance. "And I'm not going anywhere until I find them."

"Tommy?" Billy asked. There was something in his voice that made Noh Varr's anger flare. It was like he'd only just remembered his twin wasn't around. "Because I don't think that's a good idea. Tommy hates forced soul meetings."

"Tommy is missing," Noh Varr hissed. He felt his fingernails digging into the material of his suit. They wouldn't pierce it, it was too strong for that, but he could feel the press like a blade held right above skin. "So I honestly couldn't care less about forcing a meeting between us. I would rather mess our bond up, though I highly doubt I will because Tommy and I are strong enough as individuals and as a pair to handle anything thrown at us, then have something happen to him that I could have stopped."

The clearing was quiet for a moment in the wake of Noh Varr's anger.

When Billy broke it, speaking with a voice that seemed to shake in his denial, "No. There's no way Tommy is missing. I would know if he-"

"No you wouldn't," Noh Varr cut in, sneering at him. Teddy stepped closer to his mate, his eyes narrowing. Noh Varr wasn't really concerned with him. They hadn't been a fair fight back when the Cube was controlling him and it wouldn't be now. "You checked out for seven months. You don't know anything about Tommy's life right now."

"Hey!" Teddy objected when Billy seemed to physically recoil at the words. He put his hands on Billy's shoulders. "Don't talk to him like that."

"I'll talk to him anyway I want when it's Tommy he's talking about."

Kate seemed to know that the argument would only escalate, because she cut in with a sharp, "Knock it off! Both of you!" She waited a beat, seemingly to make sure they were following her orders, before giving a sigh. She asked, "Noh Varr, what makes you think Tommy's missing? I talked to him over the weekend and he was fine."

"He hasn't written to me in more than twenty four hours."

"So your boyfriend hasn't spoken to you in a while," America said. Noh Varr tilted his head just enough to see her. She was leaning against the ship still, her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her lips. "That means he's missing?"

"Yes," Kate said, her voice firm. Noh Varr was a little surprised by it. "No one with a bond would go that long without warning their mate unless something was wrong. Even I would ask for help if Clint hadn't spoken to me in that long. For Tommy though...just twelve hours would have been enough to panic."

"It happened yesterday evening," Noh Varr said, sensing her question. "I waited as long as I did because I thought maybe he had overslept, but Annie went by his place and said there wasn't any sign that he'd been there at all. I took a nap so I could drive straight then came right here."

Loki cut in here, his head tilted to the side curiously, "Yesterday night you say?"

"Yes." Consciously, Noh Varr pressed his fingers to the area where Tommy's last message was hidden under his clothing. "His last message was a bit earlier, but I got this feeling a few hours later...."

"Well that's good news then!" Loki declared with a quick clap of his hands.

"Excuse me?" Noh Varr snarled. He took a few steps forward. If he'd been seeing anything other then red, he might have delighted in the fact that Loki took the same number of steps backwards. The god would only truly fear America, but Noh Varr was intimidating. "You think it's good news that my _hala_ is missing?"

"No, no, no!" Loki said, waving his hands frantically in front of him. He was backtracking his steps as quickly as he was his words. "I just mean that the timing is good! Because that means that it's likely that the disappearance of your soulmate - Tommy? Is that his name? - is connected to everything that's going on which means you can help us and work towards finding him."

It was enough to give Noh Varr pause. He mulled over Loki's words. He looked at Billy, uncaring that the warlock looked as though he was still rattled by Noh Varr's earlier comments, "What time did you summon it?"

"Oh um..." Billy seemed to blink away his confusion. "Around eleven or twelve last night I think? It had to be late because Teddy has just gotten back from...."

Noh Varr thought about it for a moment before saying, "I think I got the feeling that something was wrong shortly after that."

"How though?" Teddy asked. "You said yourself that she controls adults and has more power over those that are parents. Tommy isn't either."

There was an underlying note of skepticism there that caused Noh Varr to bite out, "Tommy's not a parent."

"I can't be sure of the how or why," Loki said. "I'm knowledgeable because I taught myself, not because I'm all seeing. But it seems like too big a coincidence for him to have gone missing hours after Billy started this whole thing."

Noh Varr mulled over this information for a few moments.

At last he nodded, "Alright. I'll help you. But if we finish this and Tommy isn't back, you will not like the consequences."

He turned to walk into the ship, but was stopped by America speaking again, a mixture of curiosity and doubt in her voice,"No one else has been able to kill Loki. What makes you think you can?"

Noh Varr met her eyes and answered honestly, "Because as much as I have come to love it, nothing could stop me from ripping this universe apart if Tommy was taken from me permanently. Right now, the fact that I haven't felt our bond break is the only thing stopping me."

* * *

The first week was rough. Noh Varr couldn't shake the discomfort that had invaded him since Tommy's disappearance and it made his irritable. He snapped at everyone, but he couldn't help directing most of his anger at Billy. He didn't want to do it, he knew how important Billy was to Tommy, but it was undeniable that Billy was responsible for all of this.

The more Noh Varr snapped at Billy, the more aggressive Teddy got. The more aggressive Teddy got, the more amused Loki got. The more amused Loki got, the more irritated America got. Neither Kate nor Billy ever did anything. Kate's lack of action seemed to stem from understanding all of their feelings while Billy's seemed to just not care. Which only served to make it a never ending cycle because Billy's apathy only served to anger Noh Varr further.

Things didn't smooth out among them until the middle of the second week when Noh Varr's words from Tommy started to fade. He'd been doing his best not to come to contact with them when washing, unable to keep water from touching them but not willing to scrub them away, and when the fading started it had gotten hard to breathe.

Later, Kate would tell him he had had a panic attack but the idea was a foreign one.

It had been Billy that found him sitting on the floor, his pupils blown wide as he gasped for breath and held his arm tightly to him. Noh Varr saw panic flare in the Warlock's eyes, but instead of succumbing to it he knelt down next to the Kree. He had whispered soothing words until Noh Varr was able to gasp out what had happened, and then he clasped his hands around Tommy's words and whispered a spell.

"I want it to stay," he said, eyes and hands glowing a familiar blue. "I want it to stay. I want it to stay."

It stayed. The tension between Noh Varr and Billy soothed, which made everyone else more bearable as well.

The second month was when Noh Varr and Kate grew closer. They were pushed together by a mutual sense of longing for their soulmates. Kate had tried talking to Clint when they first left, but it was clear only a few lines into the conversation that he was under Mother's control just like all of the other adults they'd run into and she'd stopped writing him.

They had been the only ones that could relate to each other. America didn't have one since she wasn't from their world, no one knew what Loki's deal was, and Teddy and Billy had each other and no knowledge of what it was like not to be able to communicate in some way.

While it was the loss of their soulmates that introduced them, they found they had a shared sense of humor and pancakes. It was easy to talk to her and he enjoyed her company.

There were moments, when she let him pull her to her feet to dance to hits from whatever decade he was listening to at the time or when they were in the shooting range together trying to one up the others marksmanship, when he thought he could have loved her if it weren't for Tommy.

He loved her anyway, just in more of a platonic way.

The third month was filled with activity. Their search for the Skrull - who turned out not to be Skrull at all - that had crashed Teddy's birthday party occupied their time. The search helped Noh Varr through the month. It got him training even more and had more laughs leaving his mouth. Nothing took his mind away from Tommy completely, but thinking about other things as well helped ease the permanent discomfort and sadness.

Throughout the whole time, he wrote to Tommy. He didn't keep the words around the way he kept Tommy's, but every night he would find time to write the adventures of that day into his skin. On the days when he could think about nothing but how much he missed him, Noh Varr wrote meaningless messages in the middle of the day like he would if Tommy was able to respond.

Throughout the whole time, his head played Tommy's last words from their first separation like a soundtrack on repeat.

_'I love you. Don't write to me anymore.' 'I love you. Don't write to me anymore.' 'I love you. Don't write to me anymore.'_

There had been no goodbye this time, no warning. He wished for this separation to end with them back together just as the last had.

* * *

 Noh Varr was sitting in their usual booth at Joe's Diner, sandwiched between Loki and Kate, and thinking about his conversation with Teddy on their way there.

He didn't understand what Teddy was so worried about. If Billy had somehow magicked his ideal soulmate into his life, wouldn't he have made him less unsure? For that matter, Noh Varr couldn't really understand Teddy's wavering. If he truly loved Billy, why was he unsure at all? And how could he look at the person who was his soulmate and wonder if it was all wrong?

For all their problems, Noh Varr had never even considered the idea that Tommy wasn't meant to be his. It had seemed right from the start. Did Teddy not feel the same way about Billy?

He was torn from his thoughts by their waitress saying, "Here you go kids."

His face scrunched in confusion and he glanced around the table. Had he missed them ordering? And if he had, why hadn't Kate nudged him for his attention?

"Er..." Kate said, suspicion clouding her features that made it clear Noh Varr was jumping to the wrong conclusions. "We haven't ordered."

The black boy at the counter twirled his stool towards them. He looked to be around their age. With one hand on his coffee, he said, "I ordered for you."

"Incorrectly, stranger," Loki declared, even as he picked his fork up to poke at his pancakes. "I'd have ordered blueberries."

"Maybe you would have," the boy said as he stood and walked towards them, "but you wanted the bacon."

America braced her arm on the top of her chair, turning towards him as she growled out, "Who the hell are-"

"He's prodigy," Teddy said, his voice filled with the awe and excitement that it always had when talking about superheros.

Billy elaborated in the same tone, "A.KA. David Alleyne. He was one of the young X-Men, siding with the utopian mutants after the schism and head of their youth division. No sighting since the fall of utopia!"

Teddy gave a soft laugh, leaning towards Billy. "You are such a geek.

"As if you're not."

"Hey--I'm not the one with the heropedia super-user privileges."

Noh Varr found it interesting that Teddy could interact normally with Billy even though he was doubting their relationship. It seemed just a bit dishonest to him.

"Thanks for the breakfast," Kate said, cutting off the rest of the words whispered between the couple. She braced her fingers together. "How did you find us?"

"I've been looking for you for a while. I saw you that time you were here with the Scarlet Witch," he explained. Noh Varr pulled one of the plates on the table towards him. He peeled a bit of pancake off, only half paying attention to the mutants explanation. Billy and Teddy's fuck ups were not his fault. The only thing Noh Varr had to do with that meeting was dropping them off and picking them up. "I understood why you guys are staying off the grid. Whenever they were around you, they freaked out. They didn't realize it. So you're staying away. Still -- I had to find you.... I used some basic geometrical constructs to calculate your trajectories, based upon your public sightings. Many of the arcs ended up in this breakfast bar. I figured if I stay here enough, I'd find you."

Loki gave a small hum, leaning against his hand as he peered at David, "So, why do they call you prodigy then?"

David didn't miss a beat, shooting back, "You're guilty about something, aren't you?"

There was a beat where David and Loki just seemed to stare each other down.

Noh Varr watched, more in amusement then interest. He snuck a piece of bacon from Loki's plate while the god wasn't watching.

"And, let's have a time-out on the butting of the big brains, boys," Kate said. Noh Varr let out a soft chuckle. "As much as we're grateful for breakfast and company, you're spending too much time on how. Give us the why."

"Billy," David said, cocking his head so he could look at the warlock, "I was working with your brother, Tommy. I've got some bad news."

Before anything else could be said, Noh Varr was launching himself out of his seat. He braced himself on the table, one foot pressing against the chair he'd been sitting in while his other knee sunk into something on the table. From the squish and what sounded like Loki's squeaking, though he couldn't really tell over the roaring in his ears, he guessed it'd been a stack of pancakes. He twisted David's collar in his hands, pulling the other boy forward so his hips were pressed into the table and he was leaning over it.

"Where is he?" Noh Varr hissed out.

David looked unphased even as Noh Varr stared him down. If he hadn't been so wired up, Noh Varr probably would have been impressed by how calm he was in the face someone who could undoubtedly wreck him without much effort. After a moment, he said, "You're his soulmate. He told me about you when we went out for coffee."

"Yes." Noh Varr's fingers tightened in the boys shirt and he tugged, pulling him impossibly closer. Anyone who didn't catch on to the rage radiating off of Noh Varr might have assumed he was going to kiss him. "So tell me where he is."  
  
"He was either vaporized or teleported," David answered bluntly. "I honestly have no idea which or where."

Noh Varr's heart plummeted.

He felt Kate stand up, gently prying his fingers from David and pushing him back into his seat, but his whole body felt numb.

Vaporization didn't seem likely since Noh Varr hadn't felt the bond break, but it was equally bad if Tommy had been teleported somewhere. There were only so many places he knew of that would cut off communication between soulmates, but he didn't have any way to get to them or of knowing which option it was. That meant Tommy was out of his reach.

"Sit down," he heard Kate say, though her voice sounded further away then just a seat. He felt her tangle her fingers with his, squeezing in support, "and explain."

Noh Varr forced the white noise from his ears and straightened his body. He focused his attention solely on David.

The bond wasn't broken, he reminded himself as he forced himself to pay attention to the words being spoken instead of the hollow feeling in his chest. Which meant Tommy wasn't dead. Noh Varr wouldn't stop searching until that happened and even then he wasn't a hundred percent sure he'd give up.

* * *

They dimension hop for as long as they can, following the trail the Patriot look alike leaves behind, and by the time they stopped all of them were exhaustion.

Despite how tired he was, when Noh Varr finally laid down in a bed he couldn't get to sleep. His mind was playing the soundtrack of Tommy's final words again and now it was accompanied by the image of Tommy screaming for help that had been reflected in the Patriot's eyes.

With his body and mind exhausted, it's all a little too much for him to handle.

Kree didn't get this emotional, but Noh Varr wasn't all Kree. Even without the roach DNA in his blood, he'd spent most of his life alienated from majority of his race, be it because he'd been on the Marvel or because he'd been stranded on Earth for so long. He did a good job of acting like a Kree most of the time, but this was all too much. Tommy always had a way of pushing him over his edges.

Kate must have taken a guess at how bad his mental state would be after everything at the diner, because he'd only been lying there a few minutes before she crawled into bed with him.

He let himself be pulled into her.

They laid like that - Noh Varr with the arm with Tommy's last words before he'd disappeared pinned to his chest and his body curled around it while Kate curled around him - for hours and Noh Varr thought of nothing but how much he wished that whatever higher power had given him Tommy in the first place wasn't cruel enough to tear him away before they met. 


	7. Spiral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Noh Varr spends most of this chapter in the same funk as the last one, so if you didn't like that you probably won't like this one. Also he seriously gets into Billy's shit so warning? Seriously, he's kinda losing it and rapidly going towards a really bad place. He gets very "Tommy's never coming back what do i do what do i do". 
> 
> I tried dropping hints throughout the last few about what losing Tommy again would do to him - ie: he wouldn't handle it well - and I think I did a rather good job at not making this all come out of nowhere but I'm not 1000% about that so let me know?
> 
> This chapters a bit different then the others. It's mostly action without the interspersed timelapses and thoughts, so let me know what you think?

Five weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

They moved swiftly from dimension to dimension, two or three or four in a day depending on how far the Patriot's trail went.

The days were busy and easy. He could pull the snark and the teasing to the front of his brain. Sometimes they were in worlds that required him to explain something about the Kree and the questions that inevitably came up during his explanation were a good distraction. The fights left him weary and exhausted, but they came with thick pulses of adrenaline and thrill that shivered down Noh Varr's spine and made him /feel/.  
  
The nights were the hardest. Kate described some dimensions as the things of nightmares, but it was nothing Noh Varr hadn't seen already. His nightmares were always about Tommy - about feeling the snap of their bond and losing him the way he'd lost the crew of the Marvel. Not knowing what was happening to Tommy while he was locked in the Patriot was driving him crazy. Sometimes he dreamed about conversations they'd had in the past. The dreams hurt worse then the nightmares. They were a constant reminder of what had been taken from him.

He took to writing to Tommy during the nights, sleeping through the night was a luxury he didn't have anymore. He knew Tommy would be fascinated by everything he saw so he left paragraph after paragraph on his skin, describing the worlds they visited to a boy who wouldn't read them. It reminded him of when they'd been younger and he'd spent hours explaining the culture of the Kree in his home world, only now the spaces where Tommy would ask questions or describe his own world were empty.

Noh Varr didn't let that stop him from writing.

It felt like if he stopped, then he was admitting that there was the chance that Tommy wasn't coming back, that Tommy may never reply to him again.

He could handle a lot. He had handled a lot. Maybe he hadn't necessarily handled it all well, but he had been doing better.

Losing Tommy forever, though, was something he knew he wouldn't bounce back from. 

* * *

"Who was she?" Kate questioned, voice sharp as knives.

He wasn't sure if it was directed at him or at the situation in general. Considering the person after them had known him, he had a feeling it was probably a combination of the two.

The thing was, Noh Varr didn't particularly want to explain.

Kate understood a lot about him, but this was not one of those things. No matter how hard she tried, she would not understood what had attracted him to Oubliette.

The person he was now, the person Kate shared sympathies and experiences with, was not the person he'd been directly after the Marvel's crash. She didn't know how sharp tang of bloodlust had felt, how desperately Noh Varr had wanted to hurt everyone when both Tommy and his family had been ripped away from him in such a short amount of time and how Oubliette had matched that desire so perfectly.

For that matter, Noh Varr didn't particularly want to think about the person he'd been then. He felt the person he was now was a person much closer to the person he was meant to be. He knew he was closer to being the person he needed to be to be with Tommy. Even when he took Tommy out of the equation, Noh Varr liked who he was and how he felt more now.

It scared him how his anger at the current situation sometimes reminded him off that time.

One had to remember their mistakes to avoid making them again, but that didn't mean he had to talk about them.

Hoping it would satisfy her, he said, "Apart from the singularity-for-a-head, they looked like Oubliette the Exterminatrix. She was trained to hunt and kill aliens from birth."

"So that's who she was." Her eyes narrowed. Noh Varr resisted the urge to sigh because he could already see she wasn't going to drop it. Her voice went a little more demanding as she said, "Who was she to you?"

He thought about it for a moment before coming up with,"The first reason I loved earth."

It was the truth, even if it wasn't necessarily for the reasons Kate would assume. Oubliette had shown him the parts of earth that fit with the way he'd felt at the time and he'd loved what he saw. He might have fallen out of love with it when he was thrown into the Cube, but that didn't change what he'd felt before.

"Then--" He saw Kate's eyes catch on something off to the side of them. "Wait the undergrowth. It's..."

The little green things with leaves on their heads were weird, but Noh Varr had honestly never been happier for an interruption in his whole life. 

* * *

Billy got three days of moping over Teddy's departure before Noh Varr shoved him into a wall.

He only got three days because Noh Varr had been too busy thinking about everything else.

The idea that the Patriot and Mother weren't working together had been tossed around at the diner after they'd retrieved David and Teddy and it didn't sit well with him. If they weren't working together - if were just 'bedfellows' as Loki had put it - then there was no guarantee that taking down Mother would bring back Tommy. The only person in the group who saw Tommy as the priority rather then the situation with the parents was David, but the mutant seemed to keep his distance from all of them and Noh Varr didn't really have a plan to approach him with. He wasn't even sure if David had told them about Tommy because he actually cared about the speedster or if it was simply some sort of apathetic savior complex from his time with the X-Men.

Seeing the Oubliette again was only making his unease worse. The last time he'd lost Tommy, Oubliette had been the one he had found comfort in. It was a morbid and vaguely self destructive kind of comfort, but it was comfort nonetheless. His adventures with her had wiggled their way into his dreams and he always woke from unsure if they were supposed to be nightmares or pleasant memories. He didn't have any lingering attachment to her, but the way he'd felt around her was something he craved. Everything had been so simple then.

So, Billy got three days and then Noh Varr finally took enough notice to get angry.

They were standing in an alleyway in an alternate dimension, fresh out of a fight that'd sent them fleeing from the last one.

Noh Varr's blood was still pumping with adrenaline and the second he saw the look on Billy's face, he'd lost it. He had him pressed against a brick wall. Noh Varr's arm was under his chin and pressed against his throat while Billy stretched to keep his toes on the ground. The warlock's eyes were wide with shock and a hint of fear.

"Stop it," Noh Varr hissed.

"Stop what?" Billy questioned. Noh Varr saw his eyes dart around behind them, no doubt searching the faces of their companions who stood there.

"Stop acting so pathetic!" Noh Varr hissed. He pressed his arm tighter against Billy. He gave a soft gasp, his fingers coming up to grip at the appendage as the press made breathing difficult. It was now that he heard the others snap out of their stupors - Kate shouting his name sharply and America issuing threats. "He may not be here, but he's still there! You can still write to him and he'll still respond! You are choosing not to, you are choosing to give him space! Do you know what I would do for that opportunity? To get a choice before Tommy was pulled away from me?"

"I get it," Billy gasped out. "I get it, Noh Varr, just-"

"You don't," Noh Varr snapped. "Teddy is your soulmate. He has been bonded to you far longer then you've had your powers. He will come back to you." He leaned in close so his breath washed over Billy's face. "Your brother may not, though. Tommy is gone and he's not just going to show up one day and apologize. So, get your shit together and stop mourning someone who is still there."

He watched Billy until he saw some spark of understanding in his eyes. Then he let his arm fell and took several steps.

Billy didn't fall to his knees. He landed on his feet and reached up to rub gingerly at his neck. Kate pushed past him to reach Billy without thought, America and Loki close on her heels.

David was still standing in the middle of the ally. His face was carefully blank and his arms were crossed over his chest. When he caught Noh Varr's eye, he gave a barely noticeable nod.

At that point, though, Noh Varr really didn't care if David approved. He didn't really care about the fact that Kate would, no doubt, be yelling at him for his actions at some point.

All he cared about was how good it had felt to finally get some of the frustration out from under his skin.

* * *

_LOL._  
_What is that on your face? You're losing it, Noh Varr. If we're going to fight, at least try and look the part. I'm making the effort. You should too. You know how good it can be when we fight._  
_Check out the album I've just let you access. At least one of us is still looking good._

  
Noh Varr stared at Oubliette's message, thinking about the contents of it.

He didn't care to impress her anymore, so her comments on his appearance didn't really bother him. He knew the beard wasn't his best choice, but it had been a nice to feel like he had control of something.

It was her comment about fighting that had him thinking.

In the weeks between Teddy's departure and his capture, Noh Varr had been getting more reckless. He'd stayed in the background before, mostly shooting and engaging in hand-in-hand only when it was necessary. Since his confrontation with Billy though, he'd been throwing himself into the thick of things. If someone had to stay behind while the others ran, he volunteered right away. If someone was on one of the others, he wasted no time in drawing attention to himself instead.

He knew the others had picked up on it. The group had all noticed, but most of them didn't seem too care much. In fact, Kate and David seemed to be the only ones who really cared what he did. Kate's worry was obvious. She seemed to spend most of her time looking at him and Billy with concern without any idea how to confront or help either of them. David was harder to pin down. Noh Varr couldn't figure out what it was about Noh Varr's behavior that had caught his attention.

He was glad neither of them approached him about it. He wasn't sure what David would say, but Kate would tell him to be more careful. She would say that Tommy wouldn't want him throwing himself into danger recklessly.

It was another one of those situations where Kate's situation with Clint didn't quite line up with Noh Varr and Tommy's. Defeating Mother meant getting Clint back, but it didn't guarantee Tommy. The idea that the two things were connected at all had come from Loki, and Noh Varr was starting to wonder why he'd taken the god of mischief at his word at all.

He'd found that fighting was the best way to handle his growing uncertainty and the frustration that came with it.

And Oubliette had always been a good fight.

"Noh Varr!" he jumped at Kate's voice, swiping his hand over the messaging screen to dismiss it just as she popped her head in the door. She looked at his curiously for a moment. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing if there was any news." He gave a one shouldered shrug and joked, "Saying goodbye. Presume there's going to be a do-or-die superheroic attempt shortly, right?"

She seemed to debate his words for a minute before cracking a smile.

"You're so cute," she commented as she swept from the doorway. "And, yeah, it's looking like hero-o-clock."

When she disappeared from the doorway, he brought his messages back up. He considered Oubliette's message again.

"We leave in ten." He looked up to find it was America invading this time, peering around the edge of the doorway at him. "There's a plan. Get ready."

She was gone as quickly as she came.

He pursed his lips together for a minute before his eyes drifted over to the can of shaving cream on the table.

He gave a sigh as he pushed himself to his feet.

It really had been fun while it lasted, but certain appearances did have to be kept.

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to past in a blur.

They met up with David's collection of misfit teen superheros and he and Kate had a conversation on the roof of the ship that made it seem like their relationship hadn't done a complete one-eighty recently.

Oubliette messaged him all day. A few times he saw Annie or Merree in the background of her photos and he it was hard to describe just how much that hurt. He wondered if the Mother had them around simply because he was connected deeper to the two of them then everyone else was to any of their exes, or if she'd just missed the memo that they were two people he hadn't actually slept with.

Soon enough, the battle had started.

* * *

"Running out of time, Noh Varr," Oubliette taunted. "If we survive, don't you want what we had back? It was perfect. It was the best time of our lives and you know it..."

It really wasn't, Noh Varr thought as his feet slammed against the ground and he slid into a crouch. The best times of his life had been with Tommy.

He did hesitate though. Because while Oubliette hadn't been a part of the best times in his life, she had been a part of the best thing he had when Tommy wasn't around.

If this whole thing turned out to be a waste of time and he didn't get Tommy back, then wasn't she the one he would want.

"Noh Varr!" Kate's voice was sharp. "What are you doing?"

He forced himself back into action. He shot off a blast towards Oubliette and she dodged it easily. Keeping his eyes on her, he turned his head just enough to speak to Kate, "If I've lost Tommy forever then....She may be psychotic and immoral, but Oubliette was the girl of my dreams."

"Tommy's not dead!" Kate snapped.

"Not dead, but not here either," Noh Varr said. His took another few shots at Oubliette. "And he may never be. You heard Loki before. Mother and Patriot aren't the closest of alliances. There's no guarantee taking her out will mean taking him out."

"Then we'll get right back on the road!" Kate said. "You are an idiot if you think this adventure stops before we get Tommy back. America and Loki may not care, but Billy and David and I do." She let the arrow in her fingers fly before turning to him and snapping, "You got so mad at Billy for getting upset about Teddy, but you're doing the same thing.You're mourning someone who's still out there!"

"It's different!"

"You've had him taken from you before!" Kate hissed. "You didn't give up on him then. Why in the hell are you giving up on him now?"

She had a point. Oubliette was a contingency plan he didn't need because Tommy was still out there. It didn't matter if it took five more months or five more years, Noh Varr would search for him however long it took for him to be found.

"I have been so stupid these past few months," Noh Varr mused.

"Uh huh!" Kate said. She slapped him with an elbow, propelling him forward. "Now get back to fighting or you'll die before him."

* * *

Soon after that, it all came to a screeching halt.

Loki made his big confession, the evil exes disappeared, Kate made it apparent just how angry she was with his fatalistic mentality, they got Teddy back, and true loves kiss managed to save the day.

Noh Varr mostly kept out of the way as Billy did his demiurge thing.

"No one escapes," the Patriot said, crouched down next to Billy and Teddy as the warlock woke. "Thankfully."

"What...are..." Billy struggled to speak. "Wait! Can we have Tommy back now?"

Noh Varr had been kept from out right attacking the man by David, but he was getting antsy. He itched for a reply, for a fight, for something. Anything that gave him the chance to get Tommy back.

When the Patriot started melting into the air, Noh Varr lunged forward. He spoke directly to Billy as he said, "Denial."

Noh Varr couldn't help the sound that left his mouth. It was sharp, pure anguish and frustration. His knees gave out under him and he dropped his head.

"Hey." David's voice was as carefully apathetic as ever, but his hands settled on Noh Varr's shoulders in a show of support. "Remember what Kate said."

"I could have been looking for him this whole time," Noh Varr said. Even to his own ears, he sounded pathetic. "If I hadn't joined everyone else or if I'd just been paying attention the past few months, maybe-"

"That is not a road you wanna go down," David interrupted. His fingers curled slightly, squeezing. "We'll get him back. No matter how long it takes."

Noh Varr looked up, asking the question that'd been on his mind for weeks, "Why do you even care? You'd barely known him a day."

"He wasn't as boring as everyone else," David said.

And it was so close to what Tommy had said about David that Noh Varr couldn't help the laugh that left his mouth.

It had a sharp, almost hysterical, edge to it, but Noh Varr couldn't stop.

For the first time in months, it felt good to remember something about Tommy.


	8. A Moment In the Making

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Noh Varr move a little fast in this chapter, but I don't see either of them as being the type to beat around the bush once they found each other? They know each other better then anyone else in the world and they know they love each other. They'd fall naturally together once they were by each others sides. 
> 
> I'm going to mark this as complete for now, but I might add an epilogue in a day or two? I'm not sure yet. 
> 
> BUT YEAH!! Thank you guys for sticking around through this? I had a lot of fun writing it. I honestly don't know if I've ever written something so large, so quickly?

Noh Varr leaned against a wall, waiting for Kate to finish her conversation.

The others had asked him for a few days before they went out to look for Tommy. Billy wanted to spend some time with his parents and Kate wanted to celebrate her birthday now that she wasn't worried about the repercussions of her aging. He went with it easily.  
  
He wanted Tommy back, desperately, but he didn't want this journey to turn out the same way as the last. He didn't want to let his emotions and impatience keep him from making good decisions.

Besides, he didn't relish being cooped up in a spaceship with Billy and Kate right now. The warlock had been out for David's blood since finding out about his kiss with Teddy and Kate was giving Noh Varr the cold shoulder.

He was waiting for her now in hopes of fixing that.

Kate turned as Laurie started spewing excuses and spotted him.

He gave her a tentative smile. One hand reached up to play with the headphones around his neck, he'd been allowed to DJ for the party as long as he promised to play something that wasn't from the seventies, as he said, "Happy New Year."

"It seems so," Kate murmured.

Neither her voice or her facial expression gave anything away.

He took a few steps forward until he stood in front of her. He clasped his hands together in front of him, asking tentatively, "How was your birthday?"

"You know," she drawled, face tilted up to meet his. "I think you've lost small talk privileges."

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said.

Her eyes narrowed. "But you did. I thought I was your friend. I thought we were handling things by telling each other things and yet you let yourself drown in this black hole. Maybe I shouldn't blame you for keeping secrets when everyone has things they don't want to talk to, but I do. Because you kept all of that in for so long and then you tried giving up on Tommy in the middle of a battle and it could have gotten me killed."

"I am sorry, Kate."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." She spun away from him. She made it a few steps before stopping. Her hands formed into fists at her sides. She took a deep breath before turning and tossing at him, "The killing thing wasn't even what hurt the most. I went in there knowing I might die. What hurt most was you thinking you were the only one who cared about Tommy."

He hung his head. His dropped to his side and he hooked his thumbs in his pockets. "It felt like that. You all saw the Mother as the primary goal and I just...I wanted him back."

"The Mother may have been our primary goal," Kate said, "but that didn't make finding him optional. Tommy's our teammate, our friend, and part of our family. We would never leave him behind."

Noh Varr had a defensive urge to point out that they had, that them leaving Tommy behind was part of why he'd been in that warehouse with David to begin with, but he kept his mouth shut. He was trying to fix his relationship with Kate, not strain it further.

He watched as she made it a few more steps before a green blur reached out for her wrist. Her face colored with surprise and her punch went flying as the person who had grabbed her pulled her closer. A voice rung out, shouting, "Hey, Kate Bishop!"

Noh Varr didn't recognize the voice and, though they were at the edges of the after party, he couldn't see who had grabbed her through the crowd. Though he knew Kate could take care of herself, he couldn't help edging closer. He wanted to make sure she had back up if the advances were unwanted.

"It's New Years apparently!" the man who had grabbed Kate was shouting. "Why are you not dancing?"

He had moved enough now to see who it was. He felt his breath rush out of his lungs.

His eyes were covered by red goggles, but his white hair stuck out at all angles. His lips were pulled up in the same manic grin, full of sharp teeth, that he'd worn in the picture Noh Varr had been shown. The green and white suit he wore was molded to slender hips  
and his arms were thrown up as he wiggled to the beat pounding through the speakers.

He had never seen them in person, but he knew who it was almost instantly. Annie had sent him the picture of him that she'd shown Noh Varr in the park and he'd stared at it enough to memorize it.

What he already knew was confirmed when Kate let out a shocked, "Tommy! You're....alive!"

* * *

Tommy registered the feeling of soft, chapped lips under his own. He blinked several times before realizing that David's face was awfully close to his and...

"Get off me!" He screeched, pushing himself away. David didn't resist, leaning to the side under Tommy's hand. "Dude! We're noodles-and-a-coffee friends, but I've got an awesome soulmate already and I don't think he-"

He stopped as he recognized the night sky above him and the feeling of wind sweeping through his hair. He glanced around them as he asked, "Where's the warehouse gone? Weren't we in a warehouse?"

David started to answer him, "Yeah, but-"

Tommy caught sight of a party in the distance and his attention was already gone. "Hey--We're at a party! Great!" Without another word, he made to slip down the hill they were on so he could enter the fray.

As he went, he heard David laughing and making a comment about being a homewrecker again.

He wondered briefly what that was about and made a silent promise to ask the next time he saw him.

He moved through the crowd, looking for someone to dance with.

Along the way, he bumped into a few familiar faces. Most of the were mutants he'd met at some point or another, but he caught a glimpse of Billy and Teddy pressed together as they danced. He considered going over to say hi since he hadn't seen his brother in so long, but Billy actually looked happy and relaxed and Tommy didn't want to interrupt that.

He stopped to talk briefly to one of his acquaintances and learned it was New Years.

He took a moment to process that.

So, clearly something had happened as the last time he checked he'd been in a warehouse and New Years had been more then half a year away. He let the shock of his apparent time shenanigans roll off him as he made his excuses to get away from the conversation.

He grimaced a bit at the realization. With how long he'd been gone, he was sure Noh Varr wasn't having a great time. He was going to have to find a pen as soon possible so he could let Noh Varr know he was still alive and apologize for disappearing.

He weaved his way through the crowd, hoping to make it to the edge. Every party had someone who didn't want to be there and bailed out to write for their soulmate. Tommy loved parties, but even he had been that person enough times to know it was a universal rule. Hopefully they'd be willing to let him borrow their pen quickly.

Tommy was almost there when he caught sight of a shock of purple and turned his head to lay his eyes fully on Kate. She was turned to talk to someone that the crowd was blocking from his view, the look on her face a mixture of anger and hurt.

He redirected himself towards her. Tommy wasn't about to leave her alone with someone who was clearly upsetting her and he didn't see a reason why he couldn't give her a little pick-me-up. She would most likely be willing to fill him in on what he'd missed while they danced so he wouldn't be completely clueless when he spoke to Noh Varr.

Using his superspeed, her reached her in the blink of an eye and snatched her by the wrist as he pulled her towards the party.

"Hey, Kate Bishop!" he said, shouting over the music. When they were a few feet away from whoever she'd been talking to, he threw his hands up and moved his hips to the beat on the make-shift dance floor. "It's New Years apparently! Why are you not dancing?"

"Tommy! You're...alive!" she shouted, her voice filled with shock. He found it a little comforting to know there hadn't been another version of him running around causing trouble. "What you....doing...And here? How are you here?"

"Sorry!" he said, ignoring her questions. Those were for after she'd relaxed a bit. "I can't hear you over my awesome dancing!"

She continued fumbling for words, "Why...are...you...here...Why?" She went quiet suddenly, glancing behind her. A smile spread over her lips. "Tommy, Tommy stop. There's someone you have to meet."

Something in her tone, a little frantic and a little excited, had him coming to a halt.

She took the opportunity to snag him by the wrist and dragged him back the way they'd cam from, just as he had dragged her away. He wondered if he'd misread her anger and dragged her away from someone she'd actually wanted to be around.

"Hey," he said. She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Did I fuck up? I dragged you away because you looked angry, but you're going right back."

"Oh I am absolutely livid," Kate said. His lips quirked in a small smile at her bluntness. He hadn't seen Kate for months before his trip to the warehouse. They'd spoken on the phone, but she'd been too busy with Clint to make a trip out to see him. It was nice to be around her again. "But, I wouldn't let my anger keep you from him."

He thought about who it could be as he followed her. He'd seen Billy and Teddy in the other direction, David had been on the hill, Eli wouldn't be at a party like this and even if he was he wouldn't want to see Tommy...

His thoughts came to a grinding halt as they broke through the crowd.

Noh Varr was standing near a group of speakers in nothing but a pair of light grey jeans and his shoes. His torso was broad, packed with all the muscle that Tommy had never been able to build. Distantly, he remembered his first encounter with the Kree and realized he was absolutely, delightfully, correct about his soulmate being built like a brick house.

He forced his eyes up, taking in the sharp lines of Noh Varr's jaw and the surprise in the upturn of his lips. His hair, a white that landed a few shades darker then Tommy's, was gelled back and his eyes, a blue two shades too light to be entirely human, were watching Tommy.

"Noh Varr..." Tommy said, the name slipping from his lips without much thought.

* * *

Noh Varr had loved Kate more then he did as he watched her pull Tommy away from the party and towards him.

When they reached him, Tommy came to a sudden halt. His eyes drew a slow path along Noh Varr's body, sweeping upwards until their eyes met. Kate dropped his hand and stepped away.

"Noh Varr..." Tommy said. The way his name sounded coming from Tommy's mouth sent a shiver down Noh Varr's spine.

Without thinking about it, Noh Varr crossed the space between them and wrapped his arms around Tommy. The speedster relaxed into the hold. His arms hooked around Noh Varr's neck and he tucked his face against his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Tommy murmured, his breath ghosting along skin. "The Avengers said two or three years."

"You were missing. I wasn't going to sit around waiting," Noh Varr answered. He squeezed his arms a little tighter around Tommy's waist, pressing him in closer. Feeling Tommy against him was helping him keep away the worries that this was all a dream. "I thought I lost you."

"'m sorry," he said, his words muffled against Noh Varr's skin.

"I know." He turned slightly. He pressed a small kiss against Tommy's hair. "I'm going to consider this meeting as your apology gift."

His lips turned up in a smile when he felt Tommy's body shake with laughter against his. "That's so unfair. I'm never going to be able to beat this."

"You've got years and years and years to try," Noh Varr said. His smile dropped. He gave a soft sigh, releasing some of the tension in his body. His lips brushed against Tommy's temple as he murmured, "Tommy, hala, please don't leave again. It was bad enough before. I don't know if I could lose you now that I'm actually _with_  you."

"I won't," Tommy said. He seemed to press himself impossibly closer to Noh Varr. For two people who had only just met, they seemed to fit together perfectly. Noh Varr thought it was probably because they had been a part of each other for so much longer. "I won't."

Noh Varr wasn't sure how long they stood like that, wrapped up in each other as the music pounded around them, but he didn't think it really mattered.

Not when Tommy was warm and safe and solid in his arms.

* * *

"How'd you get Tommy back?" Billy questioned as the Young Avengers walked away from the party.

It had just rolled past two in the morning. None of them were particularly tired, but they'd all been getting a little sick of the party.

Well, all except for Tommy who seemed to be trying to make up for several months in one night.

The only reason they'd been able to drag him away was because Noh Varr had laced their fingers together and tugged him away. Tommy hadn't even put up a fight then, walking backwards as he wrapped up his conversation rather then pulling his hand away from the Kree.

Their fingers were still loosely tangled together, hanging between the two of them as Tommy called a few final goodbyes.

"I made out with a cosmic horror monster thing," David answered.

Teddy gave a sharp whistle. "Nice work."

"It's a night for kissing I guess," David said. "I think Loki may have made a pass."

As Billy spoke, Tommy faced forward again. He shuffled a little closer to Noh Varr so their shoulders bumped together.

Noh Varr glanced over at him, a fond smile on his face as he raised an eyebrow.

"We could really make it a night for kissing," Tommy suggested, a sly smile dancing across his lips.

"I would argue we already have," Noh Varr said, his smile loosing the softness and matching Tommy's. "I seem to remember having you pressed against a wall not too long ago."

"That was like an hour ago," Tommy argued. "And if we ditched out on this group thing, you could have me pressed against a bed."

Noh Varr chuckled lightly. "Later. Your brother wouldn't be very happy if we left before he got the chance to talk to you."

"Fuck Billy." Noh Varr let out another chuckle as Tommy's face scrunched with disgust. "Ugh. That's not what I meant."

"I don't know," he teased, "Billy and you are similar enough that-"

Tommy gave him a shove with his free hand, causing Noh Varr to stumble sideways a few steps as his body shook with laughter. "Stop right there, mister. I'm putting out on the first date because I've known you for nine years, but I will totally change my decision if you keep talking about my twin."

Noh Varr's amusement clung to his voice as he lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to Tommy's knuckles. "I only want you."

"You are so gross," Tommy chided. Despite his words, when Noh Varr looked over there was a pink flush along his cheeks and fondness in his eyes. "The actual grossest."

"You know what's gross?" America called from the front of the group. "All this boy kissing."

"Didn't you make out with that ultimate nullifier creep?" Kate asked.

"Only once," America answered with a shrug. "Didn't stick. It's always a shame when you end up as a damn stereotype. 'Yeah, I went with a boy on my first team, but I was just experimenting.'"

Noh Varr gave a soft hum before calling out, "It's part of the cycle for Kree. We consider these things carefully. I was aboard an exploratory vessel, after all."

Tommy, who knew just how much exploring Noh Varr had done as a teenager on the Marvel, gave a sharp snort. He said, "I suppose that's one way to define exploratory."

"The Kree are efficient like that," Noh Varr said with a shrug. He bumped their shoulders together, adding, "You're certainly going to benefit from it."

The look that Tommy sent him, green eyes darkening as he thought about all the ways he would be benefiting from Noh Varr's experiences on the Marvel, was almost enough for Noh Varr to take him up on his offer to skip their group outing and go off on their own.

"Wait--!" Kate called out. "Hold up! Am I the only person on the team who's straight?"

"Princess," America said, her voice filled with mirth as she opened a portal in front of them. "I've seen the way you look at me." She gave it a swift kick, shattering it open before tossing a glance over her shoulder. "You're not that straight."

"Hey Tommy." With them all gathered behind America, waiting to step through the portal, Billy had drawn close to Noh Varr and Tommy. He leaned over, maneuvering around Noh Varr so he could wrap his arms around his brother. "I'm glad your back.".

"Good to be back," Tommy said. It was over as quickly as it was gone, but it was clear that the action had caught him off guard.

Noh Varr nudged him to capture his attention. "Hey, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Mmmm...." Tommy hummed. He looked up at the sky before turning to Noh Varr, a bright smile on his face. "Pancakes for sure."


End file.
